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THE 



HISTORY OF IRELAND, 



rTH^^Hfi 



FROM TTl^^^^iET COLONIZATION OF THE COUNTRY, DOWN TO THE PERIOD OF 

THE ENGLISH INVASION, COMPREHENDING THE TOPOGRAPHV OF THE SCENES 

OF BATTLES, AND MEMORABLE EVENTS, AS WELL AS A REVIEW 

OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF IRISH LITERATURE 

AND THE FINE ARTS. 



51^ 






IN ONE VOLUME. 



BY GEORGE PEPPER. 



" PRAETEMTORUBIj MEMOKIA EVENTORUM." 

" Whate'er may be our humble lot, 

^■^ foes denounc'd — by friends forgot — 

Thine is our soul — our sigh, our smile — 

Gem of the Ocean ! Lovely Emerald Isle ! " 



Phillips. 



BOSTON: 

DEVEREUX & DONAHOE, PRINTERS 

1835. ■ 'x^i'rTr''"' 



OF CO/^ 



y>. 



1876. 



•^ VVASM^* 



o,^^^ 



\ 






.# 



TO 

DANIEL O'CONNELL ESQ. M/ 

THE VIRTUOUS, ELOQUENT, AND INCORRUPTIBLE 

PATRIOT, 

WHOSE ILLUSTRIOUS AND MATCHLESS SERVICES, IN THE CAUSE OF 

IRELAND, 

HAVE IMMEASURABLY SURPASSED THE GREATEST EFFORTS OF HIS 

PREDECESSORS, OR CONTEMPORARIES : 

AND WHOSE SUBLIME AND ROMAN-LIKE INTEGRITY AND DEVOTION TO 

HIS BELOVED COUNTRY, SPURNED OFFERED HONORS AND 

EMOLUMENTS, THIS VOLUME OP 

THE HISTORY OF IRELAND, 

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 
BY HIS GRATEFUL, AND ADMIRING COUNTRYMAN, 

GEORGE PEPPER. 

Boston, June 1, 1835. 



t- 



I ^ 



It has often been asked by foreigners, why a country justly boasting 
of her poets and orators, has not produced an able historian, who 
can be classed with a Voltaire, a Gibbon, or a Robertson ; and why 
the learning of an Usher, or the genius of a Swift, has left no his- 
torical monument to perpetuate the ancient glories of a nation, that 
in remote ages was styled, the ^'^ Isle of learning, and the school of 
the west ?" We confess our inability to answer the question satis- 
factorily. 

Perhaps the primary cause of the desideratum, in our ancient 
history, may be principally ascribed to the zeal of St. Pati'ick, who, 
to the eternal loss of Irish literature, caused more than 500 volumes 
of our records to be committed to the flames at Tara. McDermott, 
Lynch, and Flanagan, are of opinion that Ossian's autographs blazed 
in the conflagration kindled by the Christian Missionary. Another 
cause of the scantiness of historical materials, may be fairly traced 
to the vile assiduity of Danish and English invaders, to annihilate all 
memorials of our ancient greatness, power, and grandeur. 

Still it must be confessed, that the ancient chronology of all 
countries, as well as that of Ireland, is extremely erroneous and 
uncertain. What is the boasted alleged origin of the Greeks from, 
the gods, but the creation of poetical fancy, the chimerical mythology 
of Hesiod, Homer, and other Grecian fabulists 1 

Even in holy writ, there are the most irreconcileable anachronisms. 
The Septuagint and many of the fathers of the church, fix the period 
intervening the creation, and the vocation of Abraham, at 3513 years, 
whilst the Hebrews and many Christian ecclesiastics compute it but 
2023 ! Varro, the Roman historian, finding it impossible to grope his 
way through the dark mazes of chronology, declared that the dates 
and epochs of all the events, said to have occurred before the first 
Olympiad, (i. e. the year after the creation, 3232,) were but the 
imaginary computations of fiction. We find that the Greeks began 
to reckon their historical eras by the Olympiads, and the Romans 



IV 



distinguished theirs by the period that elapsed from the foundation of 
the " ETERNAL CITY." Hcnce we are not to wonder at the discre- 
pancy in the chronological order of ancient Irish events, particularly 
those that took place before the coming of our Melesian ancestors. 
The authenticity of the events enumerated in our annals, is at 
least as well established as that of the history of England, and the 
united testimony of foreign and native writers has fortified our pre- 
tension to remote antiquity, with evidence and arguments that cannot 
be impeached or subverted. The historic pillars that support the 
proud edifice of our illustrious origin, like those of Hercules, cannot 
be destroyed; they, (thanks to our ancient Monks,) escaped the 
rage of the Danes, the fury of the Henries, and the Richards ; the 
rapacity and perfidy of the myrmidons of the sanguinary Elizabeth, 
and the ruthless and diabolical fanaticism of Oliver Cromwell. 
Some English and Scottish writers, actuated by rancorous prejudice, 
regard the whole of our traditional, and even our written records of 
early times, with a fastidious degree of incredulity. This unwar- 
rantable scepticism, with which these writers are so incurably infected, 
may be justly imputed to their ignorance of the Irish language, and 
the consequent derision with which they treat of our historical events 
and circumstances; and the impotent attempt, which they make to 
give them a fabulous aspect. But some of their own historians 
have denominated Ireland, " f Ac venerable mother of Britain and 
Albany^ These sceptical writers seem to have adopted the maxim 
of Voltaire, in their opinions of Irish history — " that incredulity is 
the source of wisdom." The philosophic Lord Bolingbroke has 
indeed asserted, that it is an egregious folly to endeavor to establish 
universal pyrrhonism, in matters of historical investigation, because 
there are no histories without a mixture of facts and fictions. We 
think, however, that there is more truth in the opinion of the splendid 
moralist. Dr. Johnson, who steadily maintained that all the coloring 
of history was imparted by the pencil of fancy. How, then, can it 
excite surprise, if there are defects in the chronological arrangements 
of Irisli history, when even in the present age of literature and 
philosophic light, we cannot find any two accounts of the same event 
perfectly in accordance, in the detail of their minute circumstances 
and leading features 1 There is an anecdote related in the life of 
Sir Walter Raleigh, which throws a blaze of illustration on the 
subject. One morning, after his confinement in the Tower of 
London, by the order of the fanatic pedant, James I. while deeply 
engaged in reconciling the jarring and contrary accounts of \arious 



historians, respecting some noted transactions that had occurred in 
the early ages of the world, he was annoyed and disturbed by a fray 
which happened in the courtyard exactly under his window. He 
was not able to see the transactions with his own eyes, so that he 
was anxious to obtain a narrative of it, from the first person that 
came into his apartment, who gave a circumstantial account of it, 
which he asserted to be correct, as he had seen, he said, the entire- 
aflfair. In a few minutes after he had given his detail of the occur- 
rence, another friend, Paul Pry-like, dropped in, who gave a different 
version of the disturbance, and just as his relation was finished, a 
third person entered, who asserted he was an eye-witness of the 
fracas, and his recital of it was as opposite and as contradistinguished 
as Hght and darkness, from the narratives of the two preceding 
observers. Sir Walter, astonished at the amazing discrepancy in 
their stories, exclaimed,—" Good God ! how is it possible I can 
pretend to arrive at certainty, respecting events which happened 
3000 years ago, when I cannot obtain a correct account of what 
happened under my window, only three hours since." — Every 
province in Ireland had its historian, who kept its records, and every 
chief had his laureate and antiquarian ; for so late as the usurpation 
of Cromwell, we find that the famous Poet, McDairy, was the Bard 
of the Earl of Thomond. In a country where there was much 
competition among poets and historians, we must be so candid as to 
admit, that it is probable that, in order to swell the panegyric of 
their chieftains and patrons, they often decked their fame and ex- 
ploits in the tinsel drapery of poetic imagination. "As a question 
becomes more complicated and involved," says the discriminating 
Doctor Hawkesworth, " and extends to a greater number of 
relations, disagreement of opinion will always be multiplied, not 
because we are irrational, but because we are finite beings, 
furnished with different kinds of knowledge, exerting different 
degrees of attention." But though a portion of fable has been 
infused into our early history, yet the credit that attaches to the 
events connected with the landing of the Milesian colony in A. M. 
2736, and the transactions and circumstances of the subsequent ages, 
which intervened from that epoch, until the invasion of Henry II. 
are authenticated by historical evidence which cannot be impeached.* 
The first materials of history must have been collected from 
national traditions, public inscriptions, and other authorities of a 
similar complexion ; and though the accounts delivered through the 

* Vide Bede, Warner, Whitaker, Laing, Lloyde, Smith, Camden, Valiancy, «fec. 



VI 

medium of popular legends, should even escape the tinge and alloy 
of hyperbolical exaggeration, yet the person who first recorded them, 
flattered with the novelty of being the original historian of his 
country, is naturally induced to exalt their character by the embel- 
lishments of style, and the coloring of poetry, in order to cover the 
barren field of incident with the verdure of imagination, and people 
it with heroes and heroines that never had existence. Succeeding 
historians, finding it difficult to separate fi.ction from fact, or perhaps 
in some instances, rather obeying the impulse of their desires than 
the approbation of their judgment, recorded all the fabricated 
accounts which they received with historical fidelity. 

Though the ancient annals of Rome are replete with fiction, the 
Roman historians have drawn no line of distinction between the true 
and the fabulous part. Livy, the ablest and most candid of their 
historical writers, has admitted that it would be a kind of heresy 
against the dignity of a nation, to question the authenticity of its 
original records : he, therefore, omitted no fact, which he found sanc- 
tioned by antiquity. He seemed to be aware that truth was so 
blended and interwoven with invention, that it would be an endless, 
perhaps an insuperable task, to separate them : — but let us give his 
op'inion in his own words — " Qucb ante conditam condendamve urbem 
poeticis magisdecora fabidis, quam incorruptis rerum gestariim monu- 
mentis traduntur, ea nee affirmare nee refellere ; in animo est."* The 
Milesians commenced their own immediate history with Phaenius, 
their great progenitor, and continued it with wonderful accuracy and 
fidelity, through the ages that elapsed from his time, until his remote 
descendants, Heber and Heremon, after the expiration of twenty- 
three generations, invaded Ireland, A. M. 2736. But we are not, in 
this introduction, to elucidate the inaccuracies of our chronology, 
nor could we, if we were inclined, light a torch, like our great and 
gifted country-woman. Lady Morgan, to show the reader the remains 
of our ancient renown and glory, mouldering in the catacombs of 
the Irish annals. There is not now in existence, and we say it un- 
hesitatingly, any person who could write a better history of that 
country, of which she is the pride and the ornament, than her Lady- 
ship. The profundity of her research — the flowery luxuriance of 
her style — the fervour of her patriotism — the philosophy of her 
investigations — and, above all, the intimate acquaintance which she 

* It is not my intention to maintain, nor yet to deny those accounts that have 
been transmitted to us, prior to the foundation and building of the city, as they 
may probably be vested in the draperj' of poetic invention, rather than founded 
by truth on the basis of uncorrupted history, or arrayed in the modest garb of fact. 



Vll 

has with the language in which Ossian sung, and Brian Boroihme 
bade defiance to his foes, would enable her to reflect the concentrated 
rajs of these brilliant combinations, on a History of Ireland, that 
would wither the laurel wreaths, with which the historic Muse 
entwined the brows of a Gibbon, a Hume, and a Henry. 

It must surely have excited surprise in the minds of the inquisitive 
readers, that while we have numberless histories of England and 
Scotland, adapted to popular use, no successful attempt has been 
made, since the days of the Irish Livy, O'Halloran, to familiarize 
the reading world with the events of Irish history, by presenting its 
records in a commodious and economical form. Yet it will not be 
denied, that the occurrences which took place in Ireland, during the 
last two centuries, and especially since the accession of George HI. 
to the present time, demand the attention of the philosopher and 
the historian — furnishing, as they do, moral lessons, from which not 
only they, but the statesmen of the world, might derive wisdom, 
experience, and instruction ; for to form a just and impartial esti- 
mate of her present character, they must know something of her 
past greatness, and present degradation ; — ^her wrongs, persecutions, 
and injuries, which may be pronounced as flagitious, as ever the 
most wicked and tyrannic oppressors inflicted on a nation, to depress 
her spirit, sap her moral energies, and deteriorate her inherent and 
indigenous virtues. The picture presented by such mercenary Irish 
apostates, as Dr. Thomas Leland, the Rev. Mr. Gordon, Sir Richard 
Musgrave, Barlow, Taylor, and the late renegade. Dr. O'Connor,* 
(the degenerate grand-son of the celebrated and patriotic author of 
the ^^Dissertations on Jr/sA/Zestory,") who, like a parricide of his 
country's fame, sold all the manuscripts of his venerable grand- 
father, to the Duke of Buckingham, in whose sepulchral library, at 
Stowe, " they rot in state," is distorted in its outline by venality, 
and heightened in its coloring by exaggeration, so that it bears no 
resemblance to the original. While, however, Ave denounce these 
hired traducers of their native land, let us not withhold merited 
praise from the venerable Keating, the learned O'Halloran, the 
impartial Dr. Warner, (an Englishman) the acute O'Flaherty, the 
erudite Bishop Usher, the sympathetic and intelHgent Curry, the 
eloquent Lawless, the zealous TaafFe, the accomplished McDermott, 
the classic Dalton, and "though last not least," the elegant and 
efficient vindicator of the aspersed Irish, Mr. Plowden, whose history 



* See Plowden's historical letter to Col umbanus, and McDermott of Coolovin's 
statement in relation to these manuscripts. 



of Ireland, in all the great historical essentials, is superior to any 
similar production extant. All these historians have contributed 
materially to illuminate the antique darkness of our annals ; but their 
works do not embrace those topics, which the ample materials in our 
hands will enable us to introduce in our History. 

The American readers, who may honor this history with a perusal, 
will be astonished at the record of our discords and civil warfare in 
feudal times. But we must inform them that martial glory was the 
goal of the ancient Irish warrior's ambition : — for him the sweets of 
peace and domestic happiness, had no charms or allurements. The 
inspiring songs of the bards, and the siren voice of anticipated 
military fame, hurried him to the field of combat, where distinction 
and renown could only be obtained, and the laurels of celebrity 
gathered. The chieftain was sure of being branded with degrada- 
tion, who would loiter in the soft lap of luxury and inglorious 
pleasure. To be generously brave, is surely no proof of savage 
barbarity : and that such was the chivalric bravery of the Milesian 
Irish, will appear evident, when history assures us, that none of our 
monarchs ever survived the misfox'tune of a defeat in battle, except 
Malachy II. who fled from the glorious conflict of Clontarfe. Let 
us peruse the history of the Romans, and it will exhibit a scene of 
eternal warfare, in which dissension and civil broils are perpetually 
mingled with foreign conquests. The Grecian states carried the 
glory of arms to the highest pitch of ambition, at the same time that 
they termed all other nations barbarians. Athens and Sparta wasted 
their strength in destroying each other, and yet they were considered 
the most elegant and polished people in the Grecian Republics ; 
nor was the soul-moving Demosthenes deemed a barbarian, when 
he, by his animating harangues, excited his countrymen to arms, 

and with — 

" Piesistless eloquence, 

Wielded, at will, the fierce democracy ; 

Shook the arsenal, and fulminated over Greece — 

To Macedon — and Artaxerxes' throne ! " 

It is, therefore, evident, that wars and civil commotions are no 
proofs of a deficiency of refinement of manners, or enlightenment of 
civilization, and however derogatory they may be to the precepts of 
religion, and the injunctions of morality, they still exhibit a theatre 
where all the higher powers of the mind are called into action — 
where the victor is disarmed of his enmity, by the pleadings of 
compassion, and the fortunate conquerer laments over the fallen foe. 

But perhaps we have already extended this introduction to pro- 



lixity ; but we must of necessity carry it a little farther in order to 
define our plan. We are aware of the important task we have 
assigned ouiself, and of the difficulty that will attend the writing 
of a comprehensive History of Ireland. We have indeed an 
abundance of materials, which we hope by industzy and assiduity, 
to arrange with historical skill, and to combine information and 
instruction in our work, which will furnish a succinct narrative of 
all the memorable events that occurred in Ireland from the arrival 
of Partholanus, down to the present year. Nothing shall be omitted 
that deserves to be remembered. In relating the merits and de- 
merits of memorable actions, we shall endeavor to trace them to the 
motives from which they originated — to elevate such as were conse- 
crated by laudable intention, to their just eminence of moral 
celebrity, and to stamp such as sprang from the source of turpitude, 
Avith the stigma of reprobation. We will bring the cotemporary 
authority of English and Scottish writers to our aid, in dissipating 
the mists of prejudice, in which some of their countrymen obscui*ed 
our fair fame and character. We shall let Americans see what 
Erin once was, for what she is, alas ! is known to the world. She 
has been the victim of English calumny, and it is generally in that 
deceitful mirror of misrepresentation, that she is even now reflected 
in America. We shall do all we can to subvert the baseless system 
of English and Scottish defamation — and to defend the ancient 
historic structure of Ireland, which we contemplate with the inalien- 
able sympathies of hereditary aifection, from the assaults of prejudice 
and incredulity. 

We will give a fair, and we hope, an impartial history of Ireland; 
though candor obliges us to confess, that when we come to detail 
the wrongis and persecutions of our native land, we cannot help 
speaking with warmth ; for he that would merit the title of quite an 
impartial historian, should, like Imlac's Poet, divest himself of all 
the passions, feelings, and prejudices of his age and country. 

In our history we shall give a luminous review of the literature, 
manners, and customs of the Irish people, embracing an inquiry 
into the merits of their genius, eloquence, valor, and characteristics, 
as well as specimens of the forensic and senatorial displays of Grat- 
tan, Curran, Burke, Sheridan, Burgh, Flood, O'Connell, Plunket, 
Sheil and Phillips. 
2 



CHAPTER I. 

An Inquiry into the causes from whence Ireland derived the various names hy which 
she has been distinguished in ancient times ; the reason to tchich she owes the 
oiiginof her fresent appellation. The arrival of the first Colony in Ireland, 
under the command of Fartholanus, of Migdonia, in Greece. The Rivers and 
Lakes found, in the Island, by this Scythian Colony, with remarks on them. 

Name. In proceeding to give a History of Ireland, we think that 
we cannot take a preliminary step in our arduous undertaking, more 
conducive to facilitate our progress, than to give a compendious 
relation of the various names by which Ireland was distinguished in 
our ancient annals, and in the writings of Grecian and Roman poets 
and historians. 

The noblest purpose to which history can be applied, is to extend 
our acquaintance with the human character, and to give free exer- 
cise to our judgment on human affairs. In deducing the History of 
Ireland from its first colonization, and tracing the foundation of our 
nation back to its remote origin, it is necessary that we should adduce 
every historical evidence that can strengthen the basis on which the 
proud edifice of our high pretension to illustrious antiquity rears its 
elevated towers. There are few, in this age of light and literature, 
who will conform to David Hume's favorite doctrine, " that nations 
should not push their researches too far into the exploits and adven- 
tures of their ancestors," which he thinks, " should be suffered to 
remain in oblivion." 

Convinced, as we are, that the early period of our history presents 
traits of character, examples of valor and virtue, and monuments 
of genius, which the annals of Greece or Rome, in the most refined 
and enlightened ages of their triumph, can scarcely parallel, we 
shall expatiate with unwearied pleasure on the glory and grandeur 
that distinguished Ireland under her illustrious Monarchs, during 
those centuries of her greatness and renown, that preceded the 
disastrous epoch, which stands accursed in Erin's calendar, the 
INVASION of Henry II., in 1172. 

But let us proceed to enumerate the different names by which the 
land of Bards and Orators was known in the " olden time." The 
first name, according to Bishop Hutchinson and Raymond, bestowed 
upon Ireland, was '■'■ Inis Ealga,^^ in honor of Ealga, the wife of 
Partholan, the great founder of our nation. This was the appellation 
of Ireland until the country was invaded by the Tuatha de Dannns, 
whose chief called it Eire, after his lady ; hence Erin. The 
descendants of this colony, in process of time, changed the name of 
the country to Innisfail, from an enchanted stone, said to be part of 
Jacob's pillar, which they brought to Ireland. This continued to be 
the name of the nation until the Milesians subverted the dominion 
of the Danans, and gave Ireland the nomenclature of the Queen of 
Milesius — " Scotia." A great discrepancy of opinion prevails 
amongst our most learned writers, on the etymology of Hibernia. 
Bishop Usher and Raymond agree in deriving this name from the 



12 

river Iberius, in Spain, whence t!ie Milesians came to Ireland ; 
while Ledwich and Harris contend that the term is borrowed from 
a Greek compound word, which signities a 'lOtstcrn country. Doctor 
Keating seems inclined to impute the origin of the title Hibernia, 
to Heber, the son of Milesius, one of the first of our Milesian 
monarchs. 

The learned Bochart's conjecture on this disputed question as- 
sumes a great air of probability : " /i«6ern2«,"says he, plainly seems 
Phoenician ; for this term, by some called lerne, is no more than 
Ibernse, or, the furtherest habitation westward." Sir James Ware 
concurs in this hypothesis. CiEsar, Pliny, and Tacitus called Ire- 
land by the name of Hibernia, " which means," says Camden, " the 
most remote country of Europe, westward." Strabo talks of Hi- 
bernia, as a woody country in the Atlantic Ocean. 

But let us inquire whence the derivative of the present name of 
our country — Ireland. Camden cites Orpheus, the poet of Thrace, 
as an author who gives the most ancient and decisive testimony of the 
name of Ireland; he says, the son of Apollo calls it lerna, and our 
learned countryman, Bishop Usher, exultingly observes, that, " the 
Roman people were not able to produce so ancient a witness of their 
name." We think, with Dr. Keating, that the etymological origin 
of the term Ireland, may be traced back to Ir, one of the sons of 
Milesius, who was buried at Colp, near Drogheda : the place of his 
sepulture was called the land of Ir, from which, in process of time, 
the whole Island received the general name of Irlandia, signifying, 
in the Irish language, the country of Ire's grave. Sir William 
Temple is of opinion, that the name Ireland is derived from the 
river Jcnje. Plutarch calls Ireland Ogygia, which signifies ^'■tlie 
most ancient Isle.'''' Some of our ancient historians have marshalled 
a host of arguments, tending to prove that Ireland was the Isle of 
Calypso. Eminent Roman writers have called Ireland, Juverna. 
But it is time that we should conduct our readers out of the barren 
field of etymology and conjecture, into the spacious region of his- 
torical narrative. 

Arrival of Fartholanus. Although creditable annalists have 
asserted, that Ireland was first peopled by the nephews of Noah, 
immediately after the flood, our learned antiquarians discard the 
story as the fiction of the Bards. But all our historians have 
impressed the seal of authenticity on the following record of the 
first colonization of Ireland. 

According to the concurrent testimony of the annals of Erin, 
Paitholanus, the son of Seara, the son of Sru, the son of Easru, the 
son of Framant, the son of Fathocda, the son of Magog, the son of 
Japhet, the son of Noah, was compelled to fly from his country, 
Migdonia, in Greece, to evade the punishment with which justice 
threatenedto visit him, for the murder of his parents, and his attempt 
to assassinate his brother, in order that he might reach the goal of 
his ambition, the supreme command. In his fliglit to the coast, 
where ships were prepared by his adlierents, to transport him from 
the scenes of his guilt, he was accompanied by his wife yl/^o or Elga, 
his three sons, Rughraidhe, Slaigne, and Laughline, with their three 



13 



wives, together with one thousand soldiers, who volunteered to share 
in his fortunes. Having been fortunate enough to surmount the 
perils of a long and tedious voyage, he at length reached the coasts 
of Ireland, wafted thither, more probably, by the caprice of winds, 
or the sport of tempests, than by any previous knowledge which he 
had of the geographical situation of the Island, or the skill of his 
mariners in navigation. Our annals tell us, that he effected a land- 
ing in Derry, which he and his followers then called Inbher Sceine. 
This memorable event, according to the '■^ Book of Invasions,'''* 
occurred in the year of the world 1956, three hundred years after 
the flood. Mr. O'FIaherty, in his Ogygia, fixes, on the authority of 
Clitan Mac Noisk, the date of the arrival of Partholanus, in 1969, a 
difference, however, of little consequence in matters of such remote 
antiquity. The most incredible story recorded by the Partholanians, 
is, that on their arrival there were but three lakes and nine rivers in 
Ireland ; but that before the death of Partholanus, a period of thirty 
years after his arrival, seven more new lakes bursted forth, and 
three rivers gushed from the mountains of Ulster.* Doctor O'Hal- 
loran conjectures that the lakes and rivers discovered by Partholanus, 
were those in that part of the country first occupied by the colony; 
but as the woods were cut down, and cultivation extended, the new 
lakes and rivers, which the people discovered in the forests, were 
recorded in the national annals at the precise time of their discovery. 
Be this as it inay, the accuracy with which they are mentioned, 
sufficiently evinces the scrupulous regard that our early writers paid 
to those minute circumstances which composed the detail of their 
simple story. There is no history extant, should be less alloyed 
with the dross of fiction than that of Ireland ; because it is a fact 
attested by writers of unquestionable veracity, that the national 
annals were always preserved in the archives of the state. O'Fla- 
herty. Lynch, and Colgan, agree in stating that the government 
employed the chief Bards of the nation, to correct the national 
records before the assembled states, at Tara, so that the stream of 
genuine history ixiight run down pure and pellucid to posterity. 
" The productions of the annalists," says the acute and erudite 
Warner, " were to undergo the solemn test and sanction of the 
great council of the nation, in a triennial parliament or convention, 
where such accounts only as were deemed worthy of credit, were 



* The following are 


the principal 


Gule, cc 


unty of 


Antrim. 


Lakes in Ireland. 






Inchiquin, 




Clare. 


Killarney, county 


of Kerry. 


Inny, 




Westmeath 


Allen, 




Lei trim." 


Kay, 




Leitrim. 


Allua, 




Cork. 


Lane, 




Westmeath 


Arrow, 




Sligo. 


Laughline, 




Westmeath 


Conn, 




Mayo. 


Macknean, 




Cavan. 


Corrib, 




Galway. 


Mask, 


Armagh & Down 


Derg, 




Donegal. 


Neagh, 


" Derry & Antrim 


Erne, 




Fermanagh. 


Ramor, 




Cavan. 


Derg, 




Tipperary. 


Salt, 




Donegal. 


Esk, 




Donegal. 


Seuddy & SliiUin, 


Westmeath 


Foyle, 




Derry. 


Shealing & Carr, 


Meath. 


Gara & Gill, 




Sligo. 


Strangford, 


a 


Down. 


Gougenabarra, 


Cork. 


Swilly, 


(f 


Donegal. 



14 

approved, and a memorial of them entered into the register of that 
high court. If any authors were found perverting the truth or 
imprudently prostituting it, in order to serve the purposes of a party ; 
misrepresenting unfortunate or defeated virtue, contracting or 
conceaUng undoubted facts, with the same perverse intention of 
prejudicing fallen patriots, who had no other than historical evidence 
for their vindication, in such cases the authors were degraded, and 
made liable to the penalties inflicted by a law against occasional and 
incendiary historians. Surely this ordinance of the ancient Irish 
legislatures, gives a great idea of the wisdom of this people, and an 
authenticity to their history, v/hich is to be given, I believe, to no 
other nation under the sun." That all the volumes of our ancient 
history, which St. Patrick, in the enthusiasm of his zeal for Chris- 
tianity, committed to the flames at Tara, A. D. 440, were the pure 
and unmixed essence of Truth, there can be no question. 

But it is time to return from this digression, to the Lakes of the 
Partholanians. Doctor Hutchinson, late Bishop of Down and Con- 
nor, in his defence of Irish historians, has taken much pains to 
defend this part of our history, and maintains with a strong bulwark, 
of argument and ingenious reasoning, the probable truth of the 
accounts transmitted to us of these lakes and rivers, "which are," 
he says, " so far from discrediting the authenticity of our annals, 
that they not only aftord strong proofs of the reality ot the facts, 
but that those who recorded them were wise men, who wrote them for 
the intruction of posterity, that they might know which way nature 
moved. The most eminent Geographers tell us of more and greater 
new lakes than these, which have covered the low lands in many 
other countries." The Doctor confirms this observation by many 
instances; and indeed it does not seem difficult to conceive that if 
even in our own times, the harmony of nature is often disturbed, 
and her laws interrupted, and this harmony must have been much 
more liable to tumultuary emotions, at so early a period after the 
flood, when the earth was convulsed to its very centre, and the 
equipoise of the Globe consequently vacillating. 

Partholanus, we are told, suspected the fidelity of his wife, who 
is represented, by some writers, to have been a woman of extreme 
beauty, which led him to confine her supposed gallant, (one of his 
officers,) in a cave. The reign of Partholanus is not represented 
to us marked by any memorable events. This is what might natu- 
rally be expected from the settlement of a few adventurers; and if 
our annals have thrown a shade of importance over it, they would 
have been more liable to suspicion. Indeed we find an account, not 
at all authenticated, in M'Dermott's history of Ireland, which states 
that, " An African Colony resided in the Island, previous to the 
arrival of Partholanus, who lived by fishing and hunting. They 
were under the command of Ciocal, the son of Nin,theson of Garbh, 
the son of Nadhmoiar. A desperate and decisive engagement is 
stated to have taken place between them and Partholanus, soon after 
his arrival, at a place called Bliiigh Jotha, where Ciocal, the son of 
Nin, and the greater part of his followers were destroyed. Doctor 
Warner and OTIalloran regard the story of the African Colony as 



the dream of poetic fiction. The Partholanians cut down all the 
woods, and extended tillage and pasturage over the whole Island. 

Fartholanns reigned thirty years, and at his death left his kingdom 
to four sons, who were born in Ireland, Er or Ire, Orba, Fearn, and 
Fergna ; the three sons whom he brought from Greece having died 
since his arrival. Slainge died in the thirteenth year of his reign, 
and was interred in the side of a mountain, in the county of Down, 
from him denominated Sliabh Slainge, or the mountain of Slainge. 
Two years after, Laughline died, and from the circumstance of his 
being buried in the vicinity of a Lake in West Meath it received 
the name of Loch-Laugliline. In the 25th year of his reign, Rugh- 
raidhe was drowned in a lake, in the County of Sligo. The scru- 
pulous attention which our annals have paid to the names of places, 
is a strong and conclusive testimony of their truth. 

The simplicity of such statements can never be reconciled to the 
spirit of romance and fiction. To describe so many men, observes 
Warner, "to point out their manners, to paint their persons, to 
relate their adventures, and make a circumstantial recital of their 
families, seems beyond the power of fiction." In the hyperbolical 
narrative of the imagination, nothing but the marvellous can please: 
nothing but great and perilous disasters, the revolutions of power, 
the ruin of empires ; the rapid strides of conquest ; the feats of 
chivalry, and the brilliant execution of the steel clad warrior; 
in a word, nothing but what is glorious in its design, and grand in 
its progress, like the splendid career of a Napoleon, can be admitted 
into the fanciful creation of the legendary romancer. In all the 
statements respecting the colony of Partholanus we perceive nothing 
but what is suited to real life, and to the origin of an infant Colony, 
totally unacquainted with civil and political transactions. There 
are no reports whatever, in these early records, that are belied by 
the circumstances of time and place. Human nature appears in 
her native dress, or more properly without any dress, such as she 
appears in countries secluded from the polish and adventitious 
modification of artificial society ; and yet an Innis, a Hume, a Mac 
Pherson, and our own apostate Ledioich, have had the unblushing 
effrontery to assert, that the accounts of Partholanus have been 
invented by our Bards and Monks, to gratify the '^pride of ancestry 
and national honor." Our history furnishes a " plain unvarnished 
tale," unadorned by that affectation o^ '■'■ national vanity and high 
horn ancestry," to which Innis, in his " critical essay, on the ancient 
Inhabitants of North Britain," ascribes our high pretensions to 
" illustrious antiquity." But when we carry this history to the age 
of Ossian, we will endeavor to answer t!ie objections of cavilling 
critics. The Monks, who are supposed to have fabricated our annals, 
would have found it extremely easy to exalt the character of Partho- 
lanus, the Romulus of Ireland, by uniting in his person all those 
conspicuous and ennobling qualities that emanate from heroism — 
from bravery, magnanimity, and God-like virtue ; all the varied 
excellencies of the son of Venus and Anchises might have been easily 
conferred upon him, and the national pride thus flattered by the 
high endowments of an imaginary hero. But instead of this we 



16 

find him described as an infamous parricide, a wretch, who not 
content with spilling the blood of his parents, attempted to deepen 
the enormity of his remorseless turpitude, by sacrificing his brother's 
life on the diabolical altar of Fratricide. Surely if the Monks 
coined this story, in the mint of invention, we are sorry, for the 
honor of our early ancestors, that it has obtained such historical 
currency. 

The sovereignty, as we have already observed, Avas transmitted, 
at the death of Partholanus, to his four sons— Ire ruled over the 
north east part of the kingdom ; his southern limits extended to 
Dublin, Orba's dominion comprehended the country from Dublin 
to the Isle of Barrymore in Munster ; Fearn had sway from Barry- 
more to Galway ; and Feargus' possessions included the range of 
territory that lies from thence to the northern extremity of Ulster. 
Partholanus had, also, ten legitimate daughters, to whom, on their 
marriage with distinguished chiefs, lands were appropriated. We 
had almost omitted to mention, that when Partliolanus landed in 
Ireland, he had, in his retinue, four learned men, one Poet Laureate, 
two Druids, and a sculptor. The Partholanians governed Ireland 
for three hundred years, at the end of which period a dreadful 
plague broke out which proved fatal to almost the entire of the 
colony. The Psalter of Cashel says that the contagion was pecu- 
liarly destructive at Ben-heder, (now Howth,) near Dublin, so much 
so that Howth was the burial place of some thousands of the Par- 
tholanians, who perished by the sweeping mortality, from which 
circumstance, says the book of conquests, it was ever after called 
Taimhleacht Muinter Phartholan, or the cemetery of the race of 
Partholan. In the sixth century, St. Fenton erected a church in 
Howth, dedicated to St. Mary, which was in good preservation until 
the reign of Elizabeth, when it was plundered and desti'oyed, by 
her sacrilegious and sanguinary myrmidons. Howth, though now 
stripped of trees, was, we are informed by history, formerly covered 
with venerable oaks, which shaded aDruidical temple, as the remains 
of such an edifice are still to be seen in one of its sequestered 
valleys. 

Before closing this chapter we should, perhaps observe, that some 
antiquarians have gravely asserted, that the Partholanians were not 
the first who discovered Ireland. This honor they gave to Adhna, 
the son of Beatha, a messenger sent by Nion the son of Pelus, to 
ascertain the quality of the Irish soil. On reaching the Island, he 
found it clothed with the most luxuriant verdure, and brought back 
to his master a bunch of the rank grass, which he had plucked, as a 
proof of its fertility. 



CHAPTER II. 

The arrival of a second colony from Greece, under the command of Nemedius, in 
Ireland. The Africans and infant Colony contend in several battles, for the 
dominion of the country; the JYcmedians are finally defeated, and compelled to 
retire to Greece. 

A. M. 2286. Keatfng and O'Flaherty concur in relating that 
all the Partholanians were annihihited by the destructive plague 
which we mentioned in tlie last chapter, and that in consequence, 
the country lay waste and desolate for thirty years, until it was 
visited by a horde of African pirates, who took up their residence in 
it, and erected fortifications along the coast to protect them from the 
descent of other predatory rovers. 

Nemedius, who, we are told, was descended from Adhla, an infant 
son, whom Partholanus left after him in Greece, prepared in the 
Euxine sea, a fleet with which he determined to follow the fortunes 
of his ancestors in Ireland. The motive that induced him to quit 
his native land, and fit out this expedition, is not recorded in our 
annals. This armament was very formidable; it consisted of thirty- 
four ships, each of which was manned by thirty marines. He 
landed on the coast of Ulster, (but where, we are not informed,) 
without opposition from the Africans. Besides his wife Macha, he 
brought to Ireland his four sons, Starn, larbhanel, the prophet 
Feargus, and Ainnin. 

Having established himself in the country without molestation 
from his African rivals, he selected a beautiful valley, where the city 
of Armagh now stands, in which he prepared to build two palaces* 
for himself and his retinue. Four African architects, who it seems 
had made a greater progress iji the arts than his Grecian followers, 
were employed in the erection of these palaces, which they finished 
with such exquisite skill and elegance as excited the admiration of 
Nemedius ; but whether from ignoble feelings of envy, caused by 
those artists having surpassed the Grecians, in genius and execution, 
or from the apprehension that these accomplished architects might 
raise other edifices, exceeding his in magnificence and style, he had 
the baseness to order them to be assassinated. 

Soon after the Court of Nemedius was removed to the new 
palaces, Macha, the wife of this Chief, died, and from the mound of 
earth that was raised, as a monument over her grave, Armagh 
derives its name ; Ardmacha, signifying in Irish, Macho's eminence. 
Nemedius, whde at peace with the Africans, made great improve- 
ments in Ireland ; several wilds were cultivated, and twelve forests 
were cut down. At this juncture, if we can credit Keating, four 

* These Palaces were, General Valiancy supposes, the first structures of stone 
erected in Ireland. The Palace of Tara was built by Heremon, the first of our 
Milesian Kings, in A. M. 2737. Its order of architecture was Ionic, and the 
marble of its colonnade was brought from Italy. The Palace of Emania, in the 
county of Armagh, the hereditary seat of the illustrious O'Neils, was the next 
structure in magnificence and beauty, to Tara. It was erected by Crombkaoth 
O'Neil, monarch of Ireland, A. M. 3539. 

3 



IS 

large lakes sprung up suddenly, and overflowed a great exteui 
of the country. The Africans looked with a jealous eye on the 
progress of the Nemedians, in their rapid acquisition of territory. 
A pretext for coming to an open rupture was soon seized upon by 
both paries. Hostilities were quickly commenced between them, 
and they engaged fiercely in three successive battles, in which the 
Africans were vanquished, and three of their principal leaders slain. 
The Nemedians, flushed with victory, resolved to drive the whole 
African race out of the Island. The Africans, aware of the reso- 
lution of their enemies, bravely determined to contend for the game of 
empire with desperate valour. Intrenching themselves in an advan- 
tageous position, they waited the attack of the Nemedians, to which 
they opposed a gallant resistance, that dismayed and deterred their 
assailants. Nemeditts, exasperated at this formidable front, put 
himself at the head of his best troops, made an impetuous assault 
on the enemy's centre, but without effect ; the Africans now rushed 
forward on their foes, who began to give ground, and the conflict 
became general ; the engagement lasted many hours, both parties 
fighting with desperation, but at length fortune favored the Africans. 
Nemedius was totally defeated, and his army almost annihilated. 
Two of his sons, Starn and Ainnin, fell in the sanguinary battle. 
The fatal result of this conflict broke the spirit and blasted the 
hopes of Nemedius, nor did he long survive the disaster, for 
exhausted with grief and disappointment, he died at Arda Neimhid, 
now the Isle of Barrymore, in the county of Cork. 

The Africans determined to avenge the different losses which they 
had sustained, on the shattered remains of the Nemedians, imposed 
a heavy tax on them, which was to be paid on the first of November, 
at a place called 31ag Gceidne or the plain of violence. But the 
chief of the Nemedians rendered indignant by tlie enormity of this 
exaction, conspired with others, to shake off" tlie odious yoke of 
despotism, and make one bold and vigorous effort to regain liberty 
and independence. 

The Chieftains of the Nemedians at this time, were Fathach, the 
son of Nemedius, his brother Peargus, and Beothach, their nephew, 
noble spirits, of daring, fortitude, and chivalric bravery. They soon 
marshalled a force, with which they attacked their oppressors, and 
the success that crowned their arms was such as might be expected 
from the union of resolution and courage, animating men that fought 
for victory or death. In this irresistible assault, Conning, the 
African General, two of his sons, and the greater part of his army 
fell by the edge of the sword, and many of his fortified garrisons 
surrendered to the conquerors. But scarcely had the Nemedians 
enjoyed a momentary triumph under the laurels of victory, ere new 
dangers darkened the transient brightness of their exultation. 
More, the son of Dal, a powerful naval commander, who was abroad 
on an expedition for some time, returned with his fleet, at the 
moment his countrymen were preparing to evacuate Ireland. 

When the Africans perceived tlie approach of the fleet, hope 
banished despair, while the Nemedians hastened to the shore of Tor 
IniSj to oppose the landing of More and his forces, conscious that 



19 

if they failed in obstructing the landing of this chief and his hostSj 
their dominion in Ireland was lost. More's ships not being able to 
corae near enough to the shore of Donegal, he caused his soldiers to 
descend into the waves in order to encounter the Neniedians, who 
boldly advanced through the water to attack their foes. The engage- 
ment was so fierce and obstinate, so prolonged and terrible, that both 
armies were unconscious of the swelling tide, that raised its waves 
to their middle, till they were borne away by the current, so that 
those who escaped the sword were drowned. 

In this conflict the entire army of the Nemedians, except thirty 
officers and three commanders, perished. The African chief, with 
a few soldiers regained his shipping, and then with the wreck of his 
forces, took possession of the country. 

The forlorn remains of the Nemedians were now reduced to the 
necessity of submitting to whatever terms their African masters 
thought proper to dictate, or to seek their fortune in other climes ; 
to the latter alternative they almost unanimously inclined. They 
prepared a fleet as soon as possible, and under the command of 
Simon Breac, the grand son of Nemedius, set sail for Greece, the 
country of their fathers, where, on their arrival, they met but a cold 
and unkind reception from their relatives, who, instead of alleviating 
their misfortunes, spurned them with contempt and scorn. Another 
grandson of Nemedius', Briotan Maol, with his followers, landed in 
the north of Scotland, and there settled, and his posterity, for many 
ages, were possessors of the country, as well as England, as far as 
Bristol. The Psalter of Cashel confers upon this Neraedian chief, 
the honor of giving name to Britain, which before was called the 
" Great Island." 

This etymology is sanctioned by a great number of our antiqua- 
rians, and is certainly entitled to more credit than the fable of 
Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wished to derive the term Britain from 
Brutus, the Trojan, a claim so unfounded as to be rejected even by 
his own countrymen. 

The few Nemedians who remained in Ireland, were subjected to 
every hardship and privation, by their cruel task masters, the Africans, 
until the Fir-bolgs invaded the Island. The period of time that 
el'apsed, according to Keating and Lynch, from the colonization of 
Nemedius to the landing of the Belgae, was 217 years, though 
O'Flaherty, through mistake, assigns a rule of 216 years to the 
Nemedians, in Ireland. Dr. O'Halloran, with his usual penetration, 
satisfactorily proves the anachronism of the author of Ogygia. 



CHAPTER III. 

Arrival of the Belgae or Fir-holgs in Ireland. The reason why they were called 
by that appellation explained. Division of Ireland betivixt the five chiefs of the 
invaders. 

A. M. 2503. In the conclusion of the last chapter, we stated that 
the fugitive Nenriedians, under Simeon Breac, were treated as aliens 
by their relatives, in Greece, who suhjected them to the most intole- 
rable hardships, compelling them, like the captive Israelites, in 
Egypt, to hew wood and draw water. Their task masters exhausted 
ingenuity to devise the most toilsome and operose occupations for 
the strangers ; for they were obliged to sink pits, and carry clay 
from the valleys, in leathern bags, to the summits of rocks and 
mountains to form an artificial soil. From this circumstance they 
derived the name of ^^ Fir-bolgs," or bagmen. We should mention, 
however, that two of our antiquarians, Raymond and Smith, 
ascribe the appellation to a different etymology ; these writers say, 
that after the invasion of Ireland by the Fir-boigs, they took up their 
residence in caves, with which they burrowed the whole country ; 
hence these Troglodytes were called Firl-hogs, or creeping men.* 

* Among the innumerable Caves in Ireland, the following are celebrated for 
their structure and extent : — 

Bride Cave, about six miles from Cork, is remarkable for its structure, and 
various compartments. One chamber, in which are the remains of a Druidical 
altar, is very spacious. Its arched roof is supported by massy lime-stone pillars, 
so highly polished that they seem the work of art, though Grose and Ware allege 
that they are the formation of nature. In some places the entrance is very low, 
but after you descend, the arch suddenly rises to an elevation often feet, the con- 
cave of which is as smooth as if it had been the work of art. 

Con-a-Glour, near Cappoquin, in the county of Waterford, is a large open cave, 
into which you descend by stairs formed by the shelving declivities of rocks. The 
first chamber you enter is about thirty feet square, through which a subterraneous 
rivulet is seen running in a natural aqueduct, through the solid rock. This Irish 
Arethusa sinks under ground at Ballynacourty, and proceeding for a mile through 
this cave, rises again in a gushing fountain, at a place called Knockane. In some 
of the chambers the stalactical matter, descending from the roof, presents a variety 
of forms, both fantastic and picturesque. 

Bally Casshiy. This famous cavern is near Enniskillen, in the county of 
Fermanagh. The dome, covering the pillared portico of this cave, rises to the ele- 
vation of twenty-five feet; and the different chambers of the interior are spacious, 
and adorned with Tuscan columns of lime-stone. 

DuNLucE. This cave is situated under the Castle of Dunluce, near Bushmills, 
in the county of Anirim, of which we will speak in the course of our topography. 

Du^iMORE, near the city of Kilkenny, is a cavern that is daily visited by travel- 
lers. The passage into it, is down a square aperture, or rather precipice, upwards 
of sixty feet deep, by twelve feet wide ; at the bottom thereof is the mouth of the 
cave, which is but low, arched with rocks, seemingly dropping on the head, when 
from a number of petrifactions, like icicles, there falls a vast quantity of limpid 
drops of crystal. After you wander through this cavern for a quarter of a mile, 
you hear the hoarse murmuring of a subterraneous river which rolling over pon- 
derous stones, and falling down ledges of rocks, produces a strange kind of noise 
in the hollow cavities. 

Grange. This cavern which is in the vicinity of Drogheda, has been celebrated 
in the writings of several travellers. It is a vaulted cave in the form of a cross, 
with a gallery leading to it, eight feet long. On the first discovery of this cave in 



21 

In an edition of Dr. Francis Molloy's Irish Grammar, published in 
1676, which has just been put into our hand, we find that Raymond 
and Smith have borrowed their ideas of the Fir-boigs from the 
illustrations of that learned divine, on the ogum of the Brehons. 
But we will not pursue any further, an inquiry which cannot lead to 
a result of any material importance. 

The Nemedians, groaning under the pressure of persecution and 
injustice, formed, after the lapse of years of sufferinoj and cruelty, 
the resolution of bursting the bonds of their slavery in Greece, and of 
quitting a country where they never were to enjoy the charms of ease 
or happiness. So well did they manage their conspiracy, that they 
collected 5000 followers, with whom they embarked on board of a 
large Grecian fleet, which they had seized, before their oppressors 
had the remotest suspicion of their intention. After a long and 
perilous voyage, the first division of the fleet, under the orders of 
Slainge, effected a landing in the bay of Wexford, which in honor 
of this chief was called by our annalists Inbher slainge; the second 
division, of which Gann and Seangann were Commanders, eflected 
a landing on the coast of Donegal ; and the third with the chieftains 
Geannann and Rughraidhe reached the shores of the county of 
Mayo, near Killala, in a destitute state. These five chiefs, after 
uniting their forces, agreed to parcel out the country into five divi- 
sions, among them. Slainge being the eldest brother, assumed the 
sovereignty of Ireland, though his portion of the division only com- 
prehended Leinster ; the two Munsters fell to the share of Gann 
and Seangann, and Ulster became the dominion of Rughraidhe, while 
the government of Connaught was assigned to Geannann. Slainge, 
to whom our historians give the title of the first monarch of Ireland, 

1318, a gold coin of the Emperor Valentinian, was found in it, which General 
Valiancy and Dr. Llhwyd observe, might bespeak it to denote it a Druidical 
monument of the early ages. We think it was a place of interment of some 
ancient Irish chief. 

St. Patrick's Purgatory. This cavern is a narrow cell in one of the Islands 
in Lough Derg, in the county of Fermanagh, famous for being hewn by St. Patrick 
out of a solid rock, as a place of penance, and prayer, in which the holy man often 
confined himself. 

Skeheewrinky, in the counties of Cork and Tipperary, situated between Cahir 
and Mitchell's town, is one of the most magnificent caves in Ireland. The opening 
to it is a cleft of rock in a lime stone hill, so narrow that it is difficult to get into it. 
You descend by a ladder of thirty steps, and then reach a vaulted apartment of a 
hundred feet long, and si.xty high. A small aperture on the left leads from this, 
in a winding course of not less than half a mile exhibiting a variety of rocky 
altars, columns, spires and architectural ruins, resembling a fallen city. In some 
places the immense cavity of the rock is so extensive, that when well lighted by 
torches, it assumes the appearance of a vaulted cathedral divided into pillared 
aisles, and furnished with many altars. The walls, ceiling, and floor seem enriched 
with the finest embellishments of art, as the curious incrustations that adhere to 
them, appear as dazzling as if they were powdered with diamonds, and enamelled 
with crystal. The columns of spar are extremely brilliant and shaped into every 
order of architecture, and adorned with volutes, and fancy foliage of icicles, which 
possess ' a grace beyond the reach of art.' One branch of the cave extending in 
a northern direction, is in some places extremely narrow and low, but it widens 
abruptly into a large hall, in which the rocks form an amphitheatre, through whose 
area a stream meanders. We will have occasion to speak of this cave again. 



22 

was passionately fond of music, in which according to Molloj and 
Colgan, he was an eminent proficient, particularly on the harp. It 
was this Prince say O'Geohegan and O'Flaherty, that first bore the 
harp as the national emblem, on his royal banner. It appears that 
his short reign of one year was distinguished by no memorable event. 
Keating and I^ynch trace his genealogy up to Japhet. This Prince 
was succeeded by his brother Rughraidhe, who after a reign of two 
years was drowned in the Boyne near Drogheda; and having no issue 
his throne and sceptre devolved to Gann, who after a reign of two 
years, was succeeded by his brother Geannann, whom death soon 
plucked from his throne to make room for Seangann, who after a 
reign of five years, was murdered by his nephew and successor, 
Fiacha Cinnfionnan, or white-haired, the grand son of Rughraidhe. 
The usurper did not long enjoy his ill-gotten power, for he was 
assassinated by his cousin Radhnall, the son of Geannan, who was 
saluted as monarch. This monarch was scarcely seated on his 
throne, when his title was disputed by Fiodhhghean, the son of 
Seangann, whose standard was joined by numerous malecontents, 
with whom he marched to Craoibhe where the royal army was 
encamped. A fierce battle quickly took place, in which the king 
was slain, and his forces cut to pieces. The crown was not long 
suflfiered to remain on the brows of the victor, for Eochaidh, the heir 
of Radhnall, fomented a rebellion, the result of which was the death 
of Fiodhhghean and the total discomfiture of his army, at the 
engagement of Muirtheimnc* in the County of Louth. 

Our historians represent Eochaidh as a prince that united the 
matured wisdom of the statesman, to the heroic valor of the general, 
consequently his reign was more brilliant and fortunate than that of 
any of the Belgian monarchs. He was a friend to literature and 
the arts ; and the laws he enacted vi'ere fraught with a spirit of justice 
and equity which commanded at once reverence and obedience. 
We are told that he was married to Tailte, daughter of the king of 
Spain, the place of whose interment, in Leinster, still retains the 
name of Tailtcan. 

He fell in the tenth year of his reign, in an engagement with Vir- 
giodlamed, king of the Tuatha de Danans, at a place called Muige 
Tuirride. His death terminated the Belgian power in Ireland, 
which, according to the testimony of Keating and O'Halloran, lasted 
thirty-seven years. O'Flaherty however, who is certainly one of the 
most accurate of our chronologists, maintains with a strong force of 
argument, that the dominion of the Belgians existed eighty years, 
from their first invasion of the Island until its subversion by the 
Damnonii, whose history shall be the subject of the next chapter. 

* Now Mallacrew about five miles north of the town of Ardee. 



CHAPTER IV. 

I.iVdslon of Ireland hsj the Dumiunul, or Tuat/at, do Danatis. Their migration 
from Greece. History of the Liagh.-Fail, or stone of destiny. Of the reigns of 
Breas, JVuadh, Luigha, 6^-c. Objections of Ledwick, Mac Fhcrson, O'Connor, 
and Warmr, ansicered. 

A. M, 2541. EocHAiDH havin<r, as we slated in the last chapter, 
raised his power to the highest pinnacle of grandeur, beHeved himself 
secure from foreign or domestic foes ; but the unexpected invasion 
of the Damnonii soon dissolved the delusion of his dream of regal 
happiness, and convinced him that the stability of rojal authority is 
not always immoveable on its slippery foundation. The invaders 
landed in the tenth year of the reign of this monarch, under the 
command of Nuadh, a direct descendant of Nenjedius. This Prince 
and his soldiers distinguished themselves in Greece by their martial 
exploits. 

TuATHA DE Danans. Our annalists inform us, that these 
invaders were designated " Tuatlia de Danans,^'' to denote their 
descent from lobhath, the son of the Princess Danan, the daugh- 
ter of Dealboith, of the royal dynasty of Nemedius. Other 
antiquarians derive this name from the magical power which the 
Damnonii possessed, and exercised in so astonishing a manner, in 
Boeotia and at Athens. Warner and O'Connor deduce the origin of 
their appellation from the fact of the colony being divided into three 
tribes; the first of which, consisting of the chieftains and nobles, 
were called Tuatha ; the second Dei, which signifies gods, as they 
were the Priests and Druids who officiated at their sacrifices and 
religious rites; the third class, the Danans, ranked in their numbers 
the Bards, who sung the exploits of their heroes, and the hymns of 
their sacred ceremonies. 

Some of the Nemedians, who, as we before related, were expelled 
from Ireland by the Africans, settled themselves, with their chief, 
Beothach,near Thebes, where they acquired great fame for ttieir skill 
and potency in magic, in which we are told they were so profoundly 
versed as to raise, by their necromantic power, the dead to life. 
They continued at Thebes, where they increased prodigiously, 
until the country was subjected to the sway of the Assyrians, when 
they removed to Athens, and became the auxiliaries of the Athenians 
in their wars with the invaders. The enchantments they are said 
to have wrought at Athens are only, in our opinion, the creation of 
poetic fiction, and therefore too marvellous to obtain historical 
credence from us. Finding their magical spells rendered ineflfectual 
by the counter charms of the Assyrian Druids, they hastily quitted a 
country where their credit and influence were rapidly sinking in 
public opinion. Accordingly they committed themselves, once more, 
to the guidance of fortune, and after several wanderings and adven- 
tures through "field and flood," they arrived, at length, in Norway, 
where it is said they were hospitably received by the inhabitants, 
who being an illiterate people, entertained feelings of respect for the 



24 

strangers, whom they admired for their learning, as well as skill in 
necromancy. Tliey appointed four cities for their hahitation, where 
they erected schools for the instruction of the youth of the nation. 
These cities were named Falias, Goreas, Finnia, and Murias. Here 
they diffused the blessings of instruction and the lights of education. 
Our records do not say how long the Damnonti remained in tl)eir 
new habitations : but whether disgusted with the climate, or with 
the unpolished manners of the people, or what seems more probable, 
disturbed by the jealousy and envy of the natives, they determined 
to seek out some new land of promise. Enlisting themselves under 
the banner of Nuadh, they migrated to Denmark ; but finding the 
aspect of the country unpleasing, they sailed thence to Scotland, 
where they landed, and resided for seven years. The occurrences 
of their stay in Scotland have not been committed to the historic 
page. 

These erratic people becoming discontented in Scotland, set out 
again in quest of another country, and succeeded, after a short 
voyage, in reaching the northern coast of Ireland. The luxuriance 
of the verdure, and the vivid greenness of the grass that mantled 
the hills and valleys of Erin, proclaimed the fertility of the soil, and 
convinced the strangers that here cultivation and industry would 
afford them all the necessaries of life. Nuadh, after landing, by the 
advice of his principal officers, caused his entire fleet to be burned, 
so that all hopes of retreating from the Is'e should be thus cut off, 
and that the valor and courage of his followers should be their only 
remaining refuge from the opposition which they might experience 
from the natives. 

Having arranged themselves in martial array, they commenced 
their march into the interior of the country, under the covert of a 
thick mist, which they raised by enchantment, to screen them from 
the observation of the inhabitants. After the lapse of three days, 
while it is said this magic mist continued, they reached the northern 
frontier of Leinster, where, concentrating their forces in a strong 
position, they then resolved to send heralds to Eochaidh, requiring of 
him to resign his crown to their chief, or meet them in the field of 
battle. 

The monarch, indignant at the insolence of this daring message, 
sent by a band of wandering adventurers, accepted the challenge 
without hesitation. Placing himself at the head of his troops he 
soon reached the camp of the invaders, where an engagement, as 
obstinate as it was sanguinary, ensued. Both armies fought with 
desperate valor and implacable fierceness, for many hours ; but at 
length, notwithstanding the gallantry displayed by the Belgians, 
victory declared itself for the invaders, and the brave Eochaidh and 
ten thousand of his soldiers fell in the conflict. In this battle Nuadh 
lost a hand, but the wound was healed by the skill of his physician, 
Miacii, and a silver hand exactly fitted to the stump by Credah, his 
goldsmith, whence he derived the appellation of Airgiottlamb, which 
signifies, in Irish, the silver-handed. 

The conqueror, after this victory, assumed the sovereign authority, 
and acted very arbitrarily towards the defeated Belgians, whom he 



25 

compelled to exile themselves to foreign countries. Many of these 
Belgians found refuge in the Isles of Arran, Man, and the Hebrides. 

The Damnonii are said to have brought four monuments of great 
antiquity with them into Ireland. The first was a block of marble, 
called, " liagh-fail,''^ or, tlie stone of destiny, to which they attached 
great value, as one of tlieir prophets had predicted, that a prince of 
their race should reign wherever it should be preserved ; conse- 
quently it was used for many ages in Ireland in the coronation chair 
of our monarchs, until Fergus the great, the son of Earca, and 
brother of the Irish monarcii, Morough, subdued Scotland, and 
ascended its throne, in A. D. 430, when, to give greater pomp and 
solemnity to his coronation, he entreated his brother to favor him 
with the loan of it. This sacred relic of antiquity was accordingly 
sent over to Scotland, where it remained preserved in the Abbey of 
Scone, until Edward I. carried it off, with the other regalia of the 
Scottish crown, and placed it in Westminster Abbey, where it has 
been employed in its original use, at the coronation of George IV. 
as well as that of most of the Kings that preceded him since the 
reijin of Edward I. 

The Druids consulted this sacred stone on all momentous occasions, 
and its divinations were as religiously believed as were those of the 
oracle of Delphi. Many wonderful miracles have been imputed to 
the Liagh-Fail. It had the singular property of emitting a sound 
resembling thunder, when any of the true line of the Scythian or 
Milesian Princes was crowned upon it. The statue of Memnon, 
we are told, possessed a similar power of uttering a sound when it 
received the first rays of the rising sun. Whenever an illegitimate 
prince, whose mother had been faithless to the King's bed, was 
seated on the '■'■ fatal stone,^' it issued no sound, so that it served as 
a talisman to preserve the chastity of the Irish Queens, as well as 
an ordeal test of the purity of the Milesian blood. But the coming 
of the Messiah, which abolished all the Pagan superstitions, deprived 
this oracular stone of all its virtues, as it never was known to emit 
a sound after the birth of Christ. Many of our antiquarians have 
written disquisitions on the Stone of Destiny, and entered into the 
recesses of historical research, to bring forth testimony of its being 
actually part of Jacob's pillar. Indeed Bishop Usher says, "that 
whether the extraordinary attributes which the Liagh-Fail was 
supposed to possess, were the invention of the crafty Druids, or the 
real donation of enchantment, cannot be now ascertained ; but the 
prophecy of that singular medium of augury, is every day fulfilled 
iiy the reign of the present royal family of England, who are lineally 
descended from the Milesian monarchs of Ireland." Doctor War- 
ner, who, except Plowden, did us more justice in his history than 
any other Englishman, observes, in relation to the fatal stone, "that 
the coronation of the Kings of England over this wonderful stone, 
seems to confirm its title to the Stone of Destiny ; but it reflects no 
great honor on the learning or understanding of the nation to retain 
a remnant of such ridiculous Pagan superstition in so important and 
solemn an act." With regard to these sentiments of Dr. Warner, 
it may be observed, that it will always be the interest of the chief 
4 



26 

rulers not to disturb the opinions that have once gained popular 
credit, unless they tend to subvert some moral or religious principle ; 
for in that case, they may sap the very columns that support the 
grand edifice of social order, and destroy the basis on which laws 
and government are founded. So great, indeed, is the influence 
which opinion has over the destinies of a people, and so much are 
they subject to its sway, that Pascal, in his Provincial Letters, calls 
it the ^^ Queen of the um-ld" — la Heine du Monde. The Trojans 
defied the assaults of the Greeks, as long as they possessed the Palla- 
dium ; and the Romans were invincible, while they continued to 
believe that their city was to be eternal. Possiint quia posse videntur. 
" Mahomet," says Mennais, the learned and acute author of the 
Essay on Religious Indifference, "persuaded a few Arabians that 
their swords were to subject the whole world to the Alcoran, and in 
less than a century the Turkish Empire was established, from the 
banks of the Euphrates to those of the Nile. Cato did not so much 
fear the introduction of the Grecian philosophy into Rome, only 
because he foresaw, that by teaching the Romans to dispute about 
every thing, they would end in believing nothing. His fears were 
completely justified by the event." The new philosophy triumphed 
over the i*esistance of the laws, the wisdom of the senate, and the 
destinies of the eternal city itself. A few reveries, armed with doubts, 
accomplished what the forces of the entire world were unable to 
effect; as the snows of Russia effected the dissolution of Napoleon's 
invincibility, what Europe, in arms, essayed in vain to achieve. 

From these examples, nothing can be more obvious, than that the 
art of governing the people effectually, is the art of chaining their 
belief to the pillars of opinion, and alarming their fears, by raising 
before them the phantoms of superstition. Of this the Pagan 
legislators were so sensible, that they made it one of the first maxims 
of their policy. 

It is evident, then, that though, as Dr. Warner says, " it reflects 
no great honor on the understanding of the nation," to attach any 
credit to this superstitious practice, yet the retaining of it, on the other 
hand, argues no want of sound policy in those who are invested 
with the executive and legislative authority in England. Conse- 
quently, if the people are weak enough to believe that the crown 
will be perpetuated in the present royal family while they are 
crowned on this stone, it is certainly the interest, as well as the 
wisdom of the government, to strengthen the bonds of delusion 
which fetter popular prejudice, and deepen the gloom of credulity 
that darken its optics. But we have wandered too far into reflection 
on the ^^ fatal stone," from which Ireland got the name of " Jhwis 
Fail:' 

The second instrument of enchantment which belonged to the 
Damnonii, was a sword of exquisite temper and workmanship; and 
the third a gleaming spear, so polished and bright, that some of our 
Bards have denominated it the " BIcteor of Death:' This famous 
spear was used in battle by several Irish Kings. 

The fourth magical implement, as the Book of Invasions represents, 
was a Caldron, of singular construction and properties. 



27 

That the ancients cultivated necromancy and astrology, in an 
extraordinary degree, is a fact attested by the evidence of authentic 
history ; but in all probability, their magic was nothing but a more 
extended acquaintance with the arts and sciences, arid a iinowledge 
by which many movements can be put in operation on natural and 
philosophical principles ; and things effected by mechanical power, 
that appear strange and surprising to the ignorant. This species of 
magic is practised at the present day as much as in ancient times, 
by every juggler, though it has ceased to excite our surprise by its 
apparent opposition to the general laws t)f nature, because we know 
it is founded on an application of a power supplied by natural 
philosophy. 

If Electricity and Galvanism were known to the Irish Druids, the 
people would reverence them as Gods, who could kindle the fire of 
heaven on earth, and reanimate the bodies of the dead. We make 
these observations merely to blunt the edge of that ridicule to which 
the supposed magic of our Danan ancestors might expose the 
authenticity of the annals that record it. The Danans might be 
conversant with many of those feats, which excite admiration for 
ingenuity and expertness in enlightened minds, rather than the 
astonishment which only springs from the conviction of the interven- 
tion of supernatural agency. In those days of remote antiquity, 
the beacons of philosophy and literature did not blaze so splendidly 
in human intellect, as they do now. But to resume our narrative ; 
NuApH having secured by the decisive defeat of the Belgians, the 
entire sovereignty of the Island, imagined himself inaccessible to 
the attacks of fortune or the pretensions of rivals ; but this confidence 
"was not well founded. After the lapse of some years, his cousin, 
Breas, who acted as Regent of the kingdom during the period 
which the King's hand was healing, now became a pretender to the 
crown, and succeeded in collecting an army from among the exiled 
Belgians, and the alien Africans, to sustain his claim. An engage- 
ment soon took place at Muigh-Tuirreadh near the lake of Arrow, in 
county of Mayo ; the confliict, as usual in a civil war, was sustained 
with animosity and intrepidity on both sides. 

Breas himself, as well as the chiefs of the Belgian and African 
auxiliaries, fell on one side, while the monarch Nuadh, and the most 
distinguished leaders among the royal army, fell on the other. The 
victory, however, was gained by the gallant Danans, who instantly 
raised the nephew of their fallen Ring, Luigha Laimhfheada, to 
the vacant throne. It was this Prince that instituted the famous 
" Aonach Taitean," or military games, ordained in honor of Tailte, 
the daughter of Magh More, King of Spain, and widow of Eochaidh, 
the last king of the Fir-holgs. After the death of her royal husband, 
she married Deocha GJiarhh, one of the Danan chiefs, and was 
entrusted with the education of the young Prince Luigha, who in 
gratitude for the care and tenderness he experienced from her, 
instituted these Olympic games to commemorate her name. The cele- 
bration of these games, at which the beauty and chivalry of Ireland 
assembled, commenced on the first of August, the anniversary of 
the Queen's death, and continued fourteen days after. From this 



28 

celebration the first of Auj^ust is called in Irish " ZoA Lughnansa" 
or the day of King Lughaidh. This King, after a prosperous reign 
of forty years, died full of years, and honor, and was interred at 
Uisneach, in the county of West Meath. 

To his diadem succeeded Daghaidh, of whom our annals record 
that he reigned Monarch of Ireland nearly eighty years. Dr. 
Keating bestows the appellation of Great on this king, without 
telling us whether his virtues or his valor entitled him to that dis- 
tinction. 

The next Prince of this line, who ascended the throne, was 
Dealchaoidth, who after a reign of ten years, undistinguished by 
any military exploit, was assassinated by his own son Fiacha. The 
vile parricide, however, did not long enjoy that power for which he 
waded through the blood of his parent, as he was slain in the battle 
of Ard Breace by Eogan of Inhar-more. His death made way for 
the three last Princes of the Tuntha Danan dynasty, Mac Cuil, 
Mac Ceath, and Mac Greine, who reigned a year alternately, for 
the period of thirty years. They received these names from the 
respective Deities that became the object of then- adoration. Mac 
Cuil worshipped a log of wood. 31ac Ceath bent the knee of homage 
before a plough-share ; but Mac Greine elevated his thoughts to a 
more sublime object, and adored the sun, which until iVie introduc- 
tion of Christianity was reverenced as the chief Deity of the Irish. 
In process of time, 3Iac Greine, (which signifies the son of il^e sun,) 
became sole Monarch of Ireland, and was in the meridian of power, 
when the Milesians invaded the Island in 2736, and establishtd a 
sovereignty, which lasted 2400 years ! In the preceding history of 
the four first colonies that settled in Ireland, we have strictly adhered 
to our ancient annals, in deriving the Partholanians from Fathocda, 
the son of Magog, and in making the Nemedians, Belgians and 
Damnonii, descendants of the Partholanians. The learned Dr. 
OTIalloran has devoted three chapters of his history to substantiate 
and fix this origin of our nation on an immoveable foundation of 
historical proof. But opposed to his bulwark of logical deduction 
and deep research, are arrayed the powerful arguments of the late 
Charles O'Connor, the lucid reasoning of O'Geoghegan, and the 
philosophical inquiries of Dr. Warner. 

Amidst the contention of these giants of literature, we find our 
little bark adrift in the whirlpool of Scylla and Charybdrs, for — 

" Who can be right vv^hen Doctors disagree ? " 

One party argues that every country received its inhabitants from 
that immediately contiguous to it; that Asia Minor was consequently 
inhabited by the posterity of Japhet before Greece ; Greece before 
Italy ; Italy before Gaul ; Gaul before Britain, and Britain before 
Ireland. This opinion is, no doubt, very powerfully enforced by 
Charles O'Connor in his dissertations. Dr. Warner, evidently 
borrowing the tinge of his notions from the profound author of the 
dissertations, asserts " that the little knowledge of navigation in those 
early ages, would not admit of longer voyages ; and we may assure 
ourselves, that the poetical relations bringing some of them from 



29 

remote regions, and speaking of their performing various exploits, 
are nothing else but the humor so common in those days, of swelling 
the original of nations, with the heroic and the marvellous." We 
admit, with pride, as an Irishman, the genius that shines in the 
writings of Charles O'Connor, nor can any one admire more than 
we do the good sense and impartiality that pervade the dissertations, 
particularly when we reflect that they are the production of an 
accomplished writer, who was himself the representative and lineal 
descendant of Roderick O'Connor, the last of our Milesian mon- 
archs ; but though we entertain this respect not only for the writer, 
but also for his opinions, yet we deem it a duty of the first impor- 
tance in every historian, to judge for himself on all controverted 
points of history, and examine minutely and deliberately, the 
cogency of that erudite antiquarian's opinion, before we subscribe 
to it, no matter how dazzling it may be with the glitter of sophistry, 
and the spangled drapery of imposing argument. If we believe the 
authorities that inform us of Ireland's being first peopled by Partho- 
lanus and liis posterity, after by Nemedius and his colony, next by 
the Fir-bolgs, and lastly by the Danans ; why reject the very same 
authorities, when they tell us the countries whence these colonies 
emigrated into Ireland? If we reject the latter, why not reject the 
fornier account, as they have both exactly the same claim to our 
assent 1 With regard to the historic narrative of the first four 
colonies of our country, we shall observe, that if it is the fictitious 
story of an Irish Bard, the inventor has displayed a greater versa- 
tility of talent, exhibited a wider field of imagination, and a more 
enlarged acquaintance with the diversity of the human character, in 
the happy faculty of describing so many chieftains and generals, in 
assigning to each " a local habitation and a name," without betraying 
the least appearance of monotonous sameness or similitude, in the 
assemblage of personages, or the qualities which he has attributed 
to them, than the most fanciful and creative of our poets, from 
Shakspeare to the sublime Byron. All the historical characters are 
drawn from life ; they are various and dissimilar in individuality, 
feature and aspect. They are all distinguished by those traits that 
belong to the soldier ; but every soldier is himself, and no other ; 
their respective characters are peculiarly their own, and no one can 
suspect them to be the common offspring of the same production. 
To produce such an infinite diversity of historic characters, is 
perhaps, more than human genius could accomplish. It would, 
therefore, be absurd to suppose, that the fabricator of the Irish 
annals, could ever have sketched all the different characters that are 
introduced into the preceding part of our history. 

As to the futile objections of the Inneses, the Macphersons, and 
the Ledwiches, they have been scattered into " thin air," and 
submerged in the surges of oblivion by Bishop Usher, M'Dermott, 
Harold, and the most overwhelming of all, Lady Morgan; so that 
it would be like warring with phantoms for us to notice them. To 
Mr. O'Connor, we would say, that the ancients had the Ark for a 
model, and even if they had not, the bare floating of timber would 
have pointed out the facility of removing by water from one place to 



30 

ianother. The Indians of this country used canoes, rudely shaped, 
which they rowed with singular dexterity, before they were visited 
by Columbus, or became acquainted with European navigation. 

Josephus, who had better opportunities of knowing how the world 
was peopled by the posterity of Noah, than we can pretend to, 
informs us, that they passed by sea to many places. Who that has 
read history, is not aware of the Phoenician commerce, and the 
mighty fleets of Sesostris, King of Egypt, who lived, according to 
Dh Fresnoy's chronology, 626 years after the flood, and consequently 
only three centuries after the arrival of Partholanus in Ireland ? 
Have we not the authority of creditable writers to assert, that he 
undertook and accomplished long and dangerous voyages? He 
doubled the cape of Good Hope, after sailing through the straits of 
Babelmandel, from the Arabian Gulf to India, returning through 
the strait and the Mediterranean sea. Why then are we to doubt 
that shorter excursions were made by water three centuries earlier 1 

Moses tells us, that by the posterity of Japhet " the Isles of the 
Gentiles were divided in their lands, every one after his tongue and 
nation." Now the Isles of the Gentiles are universally admitted to 
be European isles ; and if they received their inhabitants from Asia 
so early as the days of Phaleg, when the dispersion recorded by 
Moses took place, why might not Ireland receive her settlers from 
Greece, so much nearer home, 200 years later ; for Phaleg was born 
101 years after the flood, in whose days the confusion of tongues, 
and the dispersion of mankind occurred at Babel 1 

These are the reasons which have induced us to cling so tena- 
ciously to our old historical monuments, because were we to give 
them up, we would abandon that vantage ground, on which our 
writers have achieved such signal victories over Scotch pretenders, 
and English bigots. But we do not presume to direct the judgment 
of the reader; ihe historian's duty is to detail, not to dictate. 

Our pages shall be open for such objections as may be brought, in 
decorous discussion, against any opinion we may advance in the 
course of this history. We are not of the nature of the sensitive 
plant, ready to shrink from the most delicate touch ; like the Irish 
oak, we can brave the tempest when it assails us. 



CHAPTER V. 

The orifr'trt of the Milesians or Scots traced to Phaenius. Jin account of his succeS' 
sors ; and their migrations , until they invaded Ireland^ A. M. 2736. 

We come now to treat of an epoch of Irish history, which has 
been, more than any other in our annals, illustrated and attested by 
a combination of genius and historical testimony that establishes 
its basis on a rock of irrefragable accuracy, which can no more be 
shaken by the cavils of doubt and scepticism, than the pyramids of 
Egypt by the idle blast of the Sirocco. In this era the horizon of 
our history was overcast by no fictitious clouds ; letters and light 
were introduced into Ireland by our Milesian ancestors, and truth 
was the deity they worshipped. 

Our Scythian origin has not been even questioned by Innes or 
Macpherson, in all iheir visionary essays to despoil Erin of the 
unfading garlands which her Fingals, [Fion Mac Cumhal,) Ossians, 
and Columbas entwined round her brows. For Buchannon himself 
says, " the Scythians becoming too numerous in Spain, many of them 
forsook that country and settled in Ireland, which they called Scota, 
in honor of the wife of Milesius, their chief." 

Phsenius, who, next to Cadmus of Phoenicia, is most eminent for 
the invention of letters, was the great progenitor of the Milesian 
line. He was the descendant of Magog the son of Japhet, the son of 
Noah. We have scriptural authority for saying that Japhet had 
seven sons, whose posterity peopled not only Europe, hot part of 
Asia. The descendants of Gomer inhabited Gaul and Germany ; 
those of Magog occupied Scythia, which they rendered so renowned 
for martial glory. Madai and Juvan settled in the different provinces 
of Greece. Thubal, who was the inventor of the Jewish harp, 
possessed Spain and Portugal. Messech, Italy. And Thyras 
obtained the sovereignty of Thrace. Of the children of Magog, 
the great progenitor of the Scythian nation, the inspired pensman 
has given us no account; but all our chronicles, particularly those 
that are deemed most authentic, as the Book of Invasions, the White 
Book, called Leahar-Dliroma-Sneachta, and the Book of Conquests, 
concur in the assertion that he had three sons, Baath, Johath and 
Fatliochta ; from Baath descended Feniusa Farsa, king of Scythia, 
who was the founder of the Gadelians. Jobath was the ancestor of 
the Bactrians, Parthians, and Amazons. Fathochta was the progen- 
itor of Partholanus, and consequently of the Nemedians, Fir-bolgs, 
and Tuatha de Danans, as well as of the'Goths and Huns. 

Our Ethiric historians commence their annals of our Scythian 
origin with Phasnius, the son of Baath, the great source whence 
flows the Milesian stream. Our antiquarians say that Phsenius got 
the name of Saisde, or the sage, from his knowledge of philosophy, 
and his intimate acquaintance with the diff'erent languages that 
originated from the confusion of tongues at Babel. He also gained 
immortality by inventing eight letters of the alphabet, in addition 
to the sixteen signs of Cadmus. Possessing sovereign authority in 



32 

Phoenicia, he selected seventy-two learned men whom he dispersed 
to the different countres that were then inhabited, to learn the 
language that prevailed in each, commanding them to return at the 
expiration of seven years. When that period was elapsed, these 
literary missionaries came back to the court of Phsenins, with rninds 
enriched and elevated with foreign lore. Schools were founded by 
the Prince, for these linguists to impart a portion of their acquired 
knowledge to their countrymen. 

But no sooner were these schools opened than Phasnius discovered 
that the memory of the teachers was not sufficiently tenacious of 
the principles they had studied in their respective peregrinations, so 
that the necessity of fixing on some arbitrary characters to impress 
the recollection, and represent the original elementary sounds of the 
human voice, forcibly suggested itself. To attain so desirable an 
end, his first object was to ascertain the number of these primary 
sounds that enter into the composition of words ; and to efiect this 
he judged it expedient to add eight letters or signs to the alphabet 
of Cadmus. He is said to have been assisted in this invention by 
Gadel and Gar, two Hebrew philosophers of erudition. The Irish 
appellation for our mother tongue was " Teanga Pheni" or the 
language of Phsenius. This Alphabet served to record the transac- 
tions of history, philosophy, and science ; but the sacred mysteries 
of religion were registered in a character which was only understood 
by the Druids or high priests. Raymond, in a long dissertation, 
satisfactorily proves that the occult letters or signs used by the 
Phoenician priesthood, were in formation and identity, the same 
characters, in which the Irish Brehons preserved their records. 
Before paper or parchment was invented, the ancient Irish Druids 
caused the sacred signs to be cut on tablets of marble, and sometimes 
inscribed with a red hot iron on smoothed boards of the beech tree. 
Several of these Druidical records are still to be seen in the museum 
of Trinity College, Dublin. Ware, Camden, and the Welsh 
antiquarian, Lllaoyd, have adduced insurmountable arguments and 
logical deductions to support the fact alleged by our historians, that 
the use of the Phoenician alphabet was coeval with the landing of 
the Milesians in Ireland. 

" The PhcEnician and Irish languages," says Llhwyd, "are similar 
in meaning, and generally in orthography; soinuch so, indeed, that 
they agree as much together as any one of the Greek dialects doth 
with another, and more exactly, in fact, than the languages of two 
remote parts of the same kingdom." But it is time to turn to 
Phsenius. 

This Prince, thirsting after new knowledge, committed the care 
of the kingdom to his eldest son, Neaniul, and setting out on his 
travels, he visited several seminaries, in order to increase the acqui- 
sition of his accomplishments. After a long peregrination, he took 
up his residence in the vicinity of Babylon, where he opened a 
school and gave instructions to several Egyptians, for according to 
Herodotus, the youth of Egypt in those days derived all their 
knowledge of letters, geometry and architecture from the Babylo- 
nians. Leaving this seminary under the supeintendence of compe- 



33 

tent preceptors, he returned to his kingdom with the view of 
promoting a general system of education throughout all his domin- 
ions; but shortly after his return he was arrested in his laudable 
career by the hand of death. 

Neaniul took the reigns of government, and his brother Niul 
(the remote progenitor of the royal dynasty of O'Neil,) was 
appointed to the office of high priest. His legislative wisdom and 
literary attainments spread his fame over Europe and Asia. Pharaoh 
Cingress, king of Egypt, hearing of the celebrity of this paragon of 
learning, became so extremely anxious to see him that he sent 
ambassadors to invite the erudite Prince to his court. Flattered by 
the invitation, he repaired to Egypt, attended by a gorgeous retinue. 
At the court of Pharaoh the graces of his person and the insinuation 
of his manners captivated the heart of the Egyptian princess, Scota, 
while the display of his talents prepossessed the king and courtiers 
in his favor. A matrimonial alliance was soon solemnized, and Niul 
received possession of the territory of Capacirunt, on the borders of 
the Red Sea, as the dowry of his wife. The issue of this union was 
a son, whom Niul named Gadkl, in honor of his father's preceptor, 
who had borne the same name. 

Keating and O'Flaherty entertain us with a historical detail of the 
intimacy of Moses and Niul, which, from the silence of other 
creditable writers, we think we may more properly call it a tale of 
Romance. Cormoc, the royal historian, nor St. Fiech, the Biogra- 
pher of St. Patrick, makes no mention of the connexion of Moses 
and Niul, though each of these authors state that Ireland was 
anciently called Tuatha Phami, or the Island of Phsenius. 

Indeed, Ring Cormoc in his Psalter, instead of synchronizing the 
Jewish Prophet and the Phcenician Prince, informs us, that between 
the period of the Gadelians quitting Egypt, and that of the deluge, 
470 years had elapsed, whereas the era of Moses' departure from 
captivity, is fixed by the most accurate chronologists 160 years later 
than that of the birth of Gadel-glas. But as the story has been 
interwoven in our early annals, we have no right to tear the threads 
of interpolation out of the historic web. Sir Isaac Newton mentions, 
somewhere, "that if the alloy of fiction could be separated from the 
pure ore of fact, many ponderous folio volumes, assuming the name 
of history, might be committed to the flames, without any loss to the 
republic of letters." But let us give our version of the story, and 
embody its substance in our own language. 

It was during the residence of Niul, at Capacirunt, adjoining the 
Red sea, that the Israelites, under the command of Moses and Aaron, 
attempted to free themselves from their Egyptian bondage, and in 
the course of their march they encamped near the house of the 
Prince, who surprised at their number and hostile appearance, went 
in person to know who they were, and whether they came in peace 
or war. On his approaching the camp he met Aaron, who gave 
him a brief detail of the Hebrew nation, and the bondage to 
which they had been so long subjected in the land of plagues. 
He then related the wonders and miracles that God had wrought 
for their deliverance, and the punishments which he inflicted on 
5 



34 

their unrelenting oppressor. Niul moved and affected by the 
relation of the holy man, proffered him his assistance, and 
offered to supply him with corn, and such other necessaries as his 
country produced. Aaron, after giving a feeling expression to his 
gratitude, returned to his brother, and joyfully informed him of his 
interview with a neighboring Prince, and the kind offers of assistance 
that he so generously made. Mo«es elated at the intelligence, com- 
municated it to the assembled hosts, to whose bosoms it imparted 
the vivid beams of hope. It happened on the same night, that the 
young Prince Gadel, was bit in the neck by a serpent, while bathing 
in the river. The virulent venom quickly diffused itself through his 
veins, and poisoned the currents of life, so that he was soon reduced 
to the last extremity. Niul, alarmed at this fatal accident, and 
aware of the miraculous powers with which Moses was gifted, carried 
the expiring Prince to his camp, and entreated that he would extend 
to his son the healing effects of those attributes with which the 
supreme Being had invested him. Moses touched with pity for the 
tortures of the child, instantly complied with the request of the 
afflicted parent, and laying his wand on the wound, the young 
Prince immediately recovered. As soon as the cure was performed, 
Moses locked a chain, which he held in his hand, round the neck of 
Gadel, whence he received the name of Glas, or of the lock. Moses 
then predicted, that v^herever any of the posterity of Gadel-glas 
should reign, no venomous reptiles should ever infest the country, or 
be able to live on the soil on which they would once imprint their 
footsteps. Niul overjoj^ed at the recovery of his son, and the 
promise of the prophecy, cheerfully furnished Moses with such 
provisions as were necessary to his journey, not however, without 
apprehensions that his civility to the Israelites might arouse the 
jealousy, and draw down the vengeance of his father-in-law upon 
his devoted head. As soon as he imparted these fears to Moses, he 
solicited Niul either to remove with him into the land of promise, 
where he should enjoy a part of the possessions destined for the 
Hebrews, or if this did not seem a pleasing alternative, he promised 
to deliver up the Egyptian shipping into his hands, by which means 
he and his peeple could keep aloof until he saw how God should 
settle affairs between him and Pharaoh, who was making prepara- 
tions to pursue the children of Israel, in order to bring them back 
to bondage. Tlie latter proposition having been accepted by Niul, 
Moses instantly despatched a thousand men to secure the Egyptian 
fleet, who succeeded in their design of putting Niul in the possession 
of it. He lost no time in embarking with all his followers, and 
standing out to sea to await the event of Moses' flight from the 
tyranny of Pharaoh. Next day, according to holy writ, the waters 
of the red sea were divided, and the Egyptian Monarch, in attempt- 
ing to follow Moses, perished with all his hosts, by which memorable 
event, the fears of Niul being dissipated, he returned to his former 
possessions, and reigned in peace for many years. When our intel- 
ligent readers peruse the foregoing ingenious fictions, they will allow, 
that like the episode narrating the meeting of Dido and iEneas, they 
serve to decorate with the flowers of romance and story, which the 



35 

weight of its glaring anacronism must sink in the quagmire of utter 
discredit. 

What credulity can be persuaded that Moses could send a thousand 
men to seize on the Egyptian fleet, while Pharaoh with all his forces, 
was in actual pursuit of him ? Dr. Keating endeavors to account 
for the imaginary alliance of Moses and Niul, by supposing that the 
latter, like many of the characters in scripture, lived some hundred 
of years ; but a hypothesis is a bad ground-work on which to raise 
a fabric of historical fact. 

Those who reject the preceding story, which lias indeed no claim 
to historical credence, derive the word Glas, the surname of Gadel, 
from the brightness and brilliant polish of his arms, which reflected 
a green lustre. From this Gadd-Glas the Milesians received the 
appellation of GadcUans, and from his Mother, Scota, that of Scots. 
The etymology of these names, and also of the name Pha3nicians, 
given to our Milesian ancestors, is confirmed by the following 
ancient verse — 

" PhcEm o' PhcEvius robearta : brig gan dochta 
Gaoidheal 0' Gaoidhul-Glas-garta . scut'o Scota." 

That is, itic are unquestionably called Phcenicians from our renowned 
progenitor, Phcenius ; Gadelians from Gadcl-Glas, and Scots fr-om 
Scota. 

Gadel succeeded his father Niul, A. M. 1996, and seems to have 
enjoyed a peaceable reign. It was, indeed, too short to witness 
many revolutions. His son Easru assumed regal authority ; but his 
reign, which it is said lasted thirty years, is not distinguished in 
history. He died in 2036 of the world, and left a son named Sru, 
who succeeded to the thvone. At this era, the sovereignty of Egypt 
was swayed by Pharaoh an Tuir, whom our historians represent as 
a brave and accomplished Prince. He recruited the forces of his 
kingdom, and exerted himself to repair the ravages with which the 
divine wrath devastated the country during the reign of his wicked 
predecessor, Pharaoh Cingress. 

This Monarch, either iiot knowing the descendants of Niul, or 
according to some authorities, incensed at the assistance which the 
Gadelians afi'orded Moses in his flight from the Egyptians, entered 
the country of Capacirunt with fire and sword. 

Sru, unable to cope with so formidable an opponent, found no 
other resource of safety from the danger by which he was menaced, 
but in flying into the country of his ancestors. This flight took 
place, according to O'Halloran, A. M. 2046. The irruption of 
Pharaoh was, however, so rapid and unexpected, that Sru could only 
collect four ships, in which he embarked, with the principal nobility, 
their wives, and such valuable effects as they could carry with them 
in so precipitous an embarkation. This event occurred in the tenth 
year of Sru's reign. Sir Francis Walsingham, in a latin work, 
published in 1563, called Hypodigma, alludes to the flight of Sru 
out of Egypt in the following passage, which we translate — " After 
Pharaoh Cingress and all his bands perished in the Red sea, his 
successor Pharaoh an Tuir, burning with resentment against a noble 



35 

Scythian who resided in Egypt, and who was a blood relation of the 
former reigning family, whom Pharaoh dreaded as a rival in the 
monarchy. He therefore resolved to drive this competitor otit of 
Egypt, lest he might attempt to seize the government. The Scythian 
Prince not having the means of asserting his rigl)t to the crown of 
Egypt, fled to Spain, and thence to Ireland." This acconiit, how- 
ever, is only true in part, as they did not come direct from Egypt 
into Spain; for Dagha, who led the Gadelians into Spain, was the 
fifth in descent from Sru, under whose command they departed from 
Egypt, to elude the vengeance of Pharaoh an Tuir. From Egypt 
the Gadelians directed their course to the Island of Crete, in the 
Mediterranean sea, where they obtained a peaceable settlement, and 
civilized the rude manners of the inhabitants, by introducing the 
study of literature and the arts. They instructed them in the 
knowledge of the Divine Being, the reverence and obedience due 
to him, and the duties which he has thought proper to impose upon 
man. 

Sru ruled over his followers in Crete 25 years, and by his death 
the government devolved upon Heber Scot, his son. After a period 
of twenty years administration, in the Island of Crete, he for some 
cause, unexplained by our annalists, abandoned the Island, A. M. 
2096, and set sail for Phoenicia, the country of his ancestors, where 
he was kindly received by his relatives, and after obtaining the regal 
authority, he died full of years and virtue. His son, Bamhain, 
ascended the throne in spite of the opposition of Naoine, the legiti- 
mate descendant of Neaniul, and the rightful heir of the crown of 
Phoenicia. The contention of these competitors filled the kingdom 
with all the horrors of civil war. Fortune seemed long undecided, 
and the contending rivals alternately experienced the rewards of 
victory, and the vicissitudes of defeat. Bamhain, however, after a 
disturbed reign of 35 years, fell by the sword, and made way for his 
son, Oghamhain, who took command of the shattered forces of his 
father, and by fortune and perseverance, retrieved, in some degree, 
the losses which had been sustained during the former reign. He 
met, however, with that fate to which a scene of continued hostilities 
must have necessarily exposed him, and died in battle, A. M. 2176. 
His son, Tait, of whom nothing memorable is recorded, became his 
successor. After his death, which is supposed to have happened in 
2211, the command devolved on Aghnoin^ who defeated and slew 
his rival Riffleoir, the son of Riffil,the lineal descendant of Neaniul, 
the son of Phsenius. This victory, however, was productive of 
consequences which proved worse than a defeat; for the followers 
of Riffleoir, collecting all their strength, vowed vengeance on the 
house of Niul. To evade the storm that foreboded such terrible 
results, Aglmoin and his adherents resolved to abandon a country 
where peace and happiness could not be enjoyed any longer by them. 
They accordingly embarked on board of their fleet, and committed 
themselves to the guidance of winds and waves, without having 
shaped their course for any particular port of destination. On this 
voyage of chance, Aghnoin, was accompanied by his brother Heber, 
who presided as High Priest ; by his three sons, Ealloid, Laitnh- 



37 

Flonn, and LaimJi-Glas, as well as by Caicer, and Cing, the two 
sons of Heber. 

His fleet was wafted about for two years, by the caprice of 
tempests and billows, during which perih)ns period, Aghnoin died, 
A. M. 2241, and was succeeded in tlie command by his eldest son, 
Laimh-Fionn, the white-!ianded. Shortly after, he and his marine 
wanderers were driven by a storm into the Islafid of Cherine, [Cyprus,) 
where they stopped to refit their fleet and recruit themselves, for a 
space of fifteen months. Here death deprived them of the high priest, 
Heber, and his nephew Laimh-Glas, who were interred with all the 
pomp and honors due to their rank. Heber was succeeded in the 
pontificate by his son Caicer, whom the Gadelians consulted relative to 
their future destinies. Having sacrificed to the gods, and particularly 
to Neptune, he foretold, that the settlement reserved for their 
posterity, was the most western Island in Europe, and one which 
Princes of their race would rule over for many centuries; but that 
some generations should intervene before they could get possession 
of the "Green Isle of the Ocean." Having made the necessary 
preparations for a long voyage, they set sail, and directed their 
course to Gothland, where Laimh-Fionn had a son, who was reputed 
a Prince of wisdom and valor. 

In this voyage they encountered every species of danger, as their 
course lay through perilous seas full of rocks, peopled by seducing 
sirens. To steer clear through these difficulties, we are gravely told 
by the Psalter of Cashel, that, as soon as the fleet reached the 
straits of Messina, the high priest, Caicer, caused the mariners to 
stuff" their ears with wax, by which contrivance they escaped the 
rocks and quicksands, to which the magic influence of siren fascina- 
tion drew so many hapless barks. We think that some poet, and 
not a historian, foisted this fable of the sirens, which originated with 
the Phoenicians, into the Psalter of Cashel, unknown to ktng Cormoc. 
The Gadelians succeeding according to their wishes in avoiding the 
dangers to which their voyage exposed them, at length effected 
a landing at Getulia, on the African coast. 

As soon as they went on shore they proceeded to return solemn 
thanks to the gods for their safety. Having explored the country, 
and ascertained the character of its inhabitants, they came to a 
determination of making a permanent settlement in a land which 
appeared to be fertile and verdant. 

Shortly after their arrival, their chief, Laimh-Fionn, died. A. M. 
2281, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Heber, called Glun-^onn, 
or, the white-knee. Our annalists characterize him as a prince that 
united the prudence of the sage to the intrepidity of the warrior ; 
but we are not told when or where he displayed these accomplish- 
ments ; nor indeed is there any particular notice taken of the 
transactions of the Gadelians for a period of 315 years, which they 
are supposed to have remained in Getulia. By an ancient poem, 
written by Giolla Caomhan, we are informed that the Gadelians 
remained only thirty years in Gothland. But though Keating agrees 
with the author as to the country, he rejects the period of time 
which he assigns for their continuance, and asserts that there are 



38 

Irish records of gv-eat authority which relate that the Gadelians 
remained 150 years in the country, where eight generations passed 
away during their rule. This is indeed a period of history which is 
involved in a dusky mantle of obscurity through which the eye of 
inquiry will never be able to penetrate. Heber's throne was suc- 
cessively filled by his son Adhnoin-Fionn, his grand-son Feabhar- 
Glas, his great-grand-son Neannail, and by the descendants of the 
latter, Nuaghadh, AUad, Earachda, and Deaghfatha, the father of 
the renowned Bratha. The latter prince, in early life betrayed a 
capacity for governing, and a spirit of ambition that spurned the 
narrow limits of his father's territories, and bid fair to shine with 
lustre in a suitable sphere of action. 

No sooner had he assumed the sovereign authority than he formed 
the determination of gaining by conquest a country that would afford 
a sufficient scope for the display of his genius. He quickly fitted 
out a fleet, and having sailed through the Mediterranean Sea, and 
passed the pillars of Hercules, with some difficulty he succeeded in 
landing on the coast of Galacia, where he gallantly repulsed the 
natives, who flocked to the shores to oppose him. 

Bratha, after repelling the hostile attacks of a warlike and 
ferocious people, caused breast-works and entrenchments to be raised 
to secure his army from the further molestation of the natives. 
According to the Psalter of Cashel, Bratha and his son Breogan 
had to fight fifty-four pitched battles before they were able finally to 
establish their dominion in Spain. Death terminated the glorious 
reign of Bratha, A. M. 2597, when has valiant son, Breogan, 
mounted tlie throne of Spain by the consent of the nation. 

He built a city for the residence of his people, which he surrounded 
with a wall and deep fosse. From him the city was called Breogan 
Sgiath, or the shield of Breogan. He also erected a light-house for 
the direction of shipping from England and Ireland, with which 
countries his subjects carried on an extensive trade. This Pharos 
was furnished with reflecting and refracting glasses, globes, and other 
nautical instruments. This heroic prince, from whom the dynasty 
of the house of Braganza is descended, was the father of ten 
legitimate sons, namely, Cuailyne, Cuala, Blath, Aibhle, Nar, Bregha, 
Fuadh, Muirtheimhne, Ith, and Bille. The latter was the father of 
GoLLAMH, who was designated, by way of distinction and dignity, 
" Mile-Espaijie,'" or the hero of Spain, who, under the name of 
Milesius, cuts such a distinguished figure in the annals of Erin. 

Breogan and his sons gained many victories in Spain, and finally 
succeeded in reducing that country and Portugal to his subjection. 
His son GoLLAMH covered himself with glory in every battle, and 
his skill and heroism generally secured the victory. 

Having finally established their settlement in Spain, Gollamh 
(Milesius) became desirous of an opportunity of entwining new 
laurels in his wreath of fame. By his father's consent he fitted out 
an expedition with which he sailed from the port of Corunna, in 
order to assist his friends in Phoenicia, who were at this time greatly 
distressed by foreign wars. He was accompanied by twelve literary 
and scientific men who were to take observations in astronomy and 



39 

the arts, and keep a regular journal of the discoveries they might 
make, or the improvements they might meet. 

The chivalric prince was received with warm demonstrations of 
respect and regard by his cousin Reffleoir, at the Scythian court. 
His acknowledged military talents and undaunted courage pointed 
him out to the king as a person every way qualified to command his 
armies. In order to knit the' bonds of relationship still closer, and 
add " a tower of strength" to his power, the king gave Milesius his 
daughter, the beautiful Seang, in marriage. At the head of the 
army he soon expelled the invaders from the dominions of his father- 
in-law, suppressed revolts, and humbled all the enemies of the 
Scythian nation. 

He had tv/o sons by the Phoenician Princess, Don and Aireach 
in giving birth to the latter of whom she died. The father was 
assiduous in instructing his sons in military talents, and in all the 
accomplishments that can adorn and polish intellect. His victories 
and his generosity raised him so high in the estimation of the people 
that his popularity filled the mind of the king with alarm and 
jealousy, who, apprehensive that the Spanish prince might attempt 
to usurp the sovereign power and wrest it from his fiimily, after the 
example of his ancestors, took measures to have him assassinated. 
But some friend intimated privately to Gollamh the fate that was 
intended for him, who on hearing the treachery of his father-in-law, 
resolved to have vengeance. In order to deceive the king he feigned 
indisposition, whilst his adherents were making the necessary 
preparations to accomplish his intention. All being ready for the 
execution of his plan, he at the head of a chosen band of his country- 
men forced the gates of the palace, and dispatched the ungenerous 
Reffleoiu. Milesius not thinking it prudent to entrust himself any- 
longer to the faith of the Phcsnicians, set sail for Egypt, where he 
proffered his services to Pharaoh Nectonebus, the king, who was then 
engaged in war with the Ethiopians. Pharaoh wishing to avail 
himself of the assistance of a prince whose exploits were the theme 
of universal applause, immediately appointed him generalissimo of 
his armies. 

He engaged the Ethiopians in several conflicts, \yith incredible 
success, and proved himself worthy of the dignity conferred upon 
him by the Egyptian Monarch, who, in consideration of the impor- 
tant services which he experienced at his hands, gave him his 
daughter, Scota, in marriage. By Scota he had two son-s, born 
in Egypt, Heber-Fionn, and Amhergin. During the absence of 
Milesius, his father Bille died in Spain, and in consequence, the 
Spaniards began to revolt from the Gadelian government. The 
moment Milesius heard of the disaflEection of the Spaniards, he took 
a final leave of his father-in-law, and hastened back to chastise the 
rebels of his country. No sooner was he landed than his very name, 
like that of him who threw Alexander, Hannibal, and Ccesar into 
the shade. Napoleon, communicated fear and consternation to the 
hearts of the insurgents. Tranquillity was soon restored, and 
Milesius, before his death, had the happiness of reigning over a well 
affected and united people. He died, A. M. 2706, advanced in years, 



40 

who, after a shoi't time, and was succeeded by his son Heber-Fionnt 
shared the royal power with his younger brother, Heremon. Dr. 
Keating alleges, but we know not on what authority^ that Milesius' 
voyage from Egypt to Spain, was perilous and protracted, occupying, 
according to his unauthenticated account, a period of two years, 
during which he visited Thrace, where his wife Scota was delivered 
of a son, called 1r ; that after refitting his fleet in the Hellespont, 
he again put to sea, and passing through a series of circumnavigations, 
in the course of which he touched the north of Britain, (where 
another son was born to him, whom he named Colpa, or the swords- 
man,) he at length made the coast of Spain. " There is certainly 
no question" says the profound and erudite Charles O'Connor, 
" but that the account of the feats and exploits of the Gadelian chiefs, 
taken in a great measure from our Bards and Fileas, i-ather than 
from our authentic annals, is mixed with much fable and colored 
with the die of invention ; and we need not doubt of the corruption 
of the stream, as it is mixed with the current of succeeding ages : 
it is enough that the chiefest heroes mentioned by our old Bards, 
were equally celebrated in the traditions of other learned nations." 

Our annalists tell us that Milesius had eight sons born in wedlock, 
and twenty-four who were the fruits of illicit love. 

Heber-Fionn, his eldest son by Seang, his first wife, in conjunc- 
tion with his younger brother Heremon, assumed the reins of 
sovereignty, and Amhergin was elevated to the pontificate. By the 
assistance of the twelve Philosophers, who accompanied Gollamh, 
alias, Milesius, to Phoenicia and Egypt, these Princes were able to 
give ample encouragement to the arts and sciences. While they 
were employed in the salutary endeavor of ameliorating the condition 
of their people, by diffusing knowledge and morals among them, 
the country was visited with the dreadful calamities of pestilence 
and famine, by which they were so weakened, that the neighboring 
states were once more encouraged to attack them. 

In this fallen state of their fortunes, they were unable to surmount 
the difficulties and dangers that environed them ; nor could they 
devise any means to resist the hostile attacks with which they v/ere 
threatened. While bewildered in the mazes of this emergency, 
without a ray of hope to warm their despair-chilled hearts, Amher- 
gin, as if suddenly seized with prophetic inspiration, reminded them 
of the ancient prediction of his predecessor, Caicer. His words 
raised their spirits from the deepest despondency to the summit of 
expectation. He informed them that the Western Island of the 
Atlantic, which was unknown to their ancestors in the days of Caicer, 
was that destined for the posterity of Milesius. The people, on 
hearing the speech of the high Priest, called on their chiefs to 
conduct them to that Isle, where the gods promised them prosperity 
and happiness. After deliberating in council, they resolved on 
sending 1th, the son of Breogan, on whose prudence and sagacity 
they could rely, to visit the Island, and ascertain the strength and 
character of its inhabitants. 

Ith, accordingly set sail from the port of Corunna, in Spain, 
A. M. 2735, in a strong ship, attended by his son, Lughaidh, and a 
select body of 150 armed men, besides the crew. 



41 

His voyaaje having proved prosperous, he reached tlie northern 
coast of Ireland, in a few days after his departure, and landed with 
all his followers at Daire Calgach, now Londonderry, where he 
immediately oflered sacrifices to Neptune, the favorite marine god 
of the Phoenicians and Gadelians. The omens did not prove as 
propitious as he expected, but relying on the fulfilment of the ancient 
prophecy, he did not suffer his mind to brood in sadness on the 
discouraging divination. As soon as the Gadelians pitched their 
tents, numbers of the inhabitants approached their camp to know 
who they were, and what the strange adventurers wanted in the 
country of Innis-fail. Ith was astonished to find himself addressed 
by the people of a foreign clime, in his vernacular language,* and 
gave the inquiries to understand, in the same idiom, that the identity 
of their language convinced him that he and they must have sprung 
from one common source of Japhethian ancestry ; that he was 
driven on their coasts by stress of weather, and that he intended to 
return as soou as possible to his friends in Spain. The people 
sympathizing in his distresses, infoimed him that the Danan Princes, 
who then ruled the nation, were holding a Congress at Oilcach JVead, 
in the peninsula of Innis-Shone, not far from his camp, whither they 
advised him to repair. This congress assembled here, (where in 
days of yore the kings of Ulster held their courts,) for the purpose 
of making an equitable partition of the crown Jewels between three 
brothers, who had disputed about them. He accordingly presented 
himself before this assembly, and by his courtly bearing and eloquent 
address, impressed the Belgian chiefs with so high an idea of his 
character, that they unanimously agreed to make him their umpire 
in deciding an unfortunate difference, which, if not averted, was 
likely to kindle the flames of civil war in the country. The con- 
tending brothers unanimously declared that they would cheerfully 
submit to his decision. 

Ith, unwilling to incur the displeasure of either of the Princes, 
adjudged, that the jewels should be equally divided among the three 
brothers. He expatiated at the same time, on the advantages 
resulting from peace and concord, and observed that a country so 
fruitful, indented as it was with rivers that watered green meadows, 
and verdant valleys of flowery pasturage, which were never visited 

* The great antiquity of the Irish language, which is the same as the ancient 
Scythian, affords another proof of the Phosnician origin of the Irish nation, and 
that the elements of their idiom were brought to Ireland when the use of letters 
was in its infancy. Indeed, the old Irish bears so great an affinity to the ancient 
Hebrew, that to those who are masters of both, they appear plainly to be only 
dialects of the same tongue. This surely lays a fair foundation for an ancient 
history to be built upon : " for a nation and language are both of an age, and if a 
language be ancient, the people must be as old." — Warner. 

'■ In order to discover the original of the Irish nation, I was at the pains to 
compare all European languages with that of Ireland, and I found it had little 
agreement with any of them. I then had recourse to the Celtic, ihe original 
language of the ancient Celtse, or Scythians, and I found the affinity so great that 
there was scarcely a shade of difference. There being such an exact agreement 
between them, and the Irish having no affinity with any known language in the 
world, excepting the Hebrew and the PhcEnician, this is sufficient, I think, to 
procure that credit to Irish history which it may justly challenge." — Raymond. 
6 



42 

with the devastation of the hurricane, seemed designed by bountiful 
nature, as the abode of contentment and prosperity. 

Having reconciled the brothers to each other, he took his leave, 
and departed with the presents that they presented him, for his ship. 
No sooner was he gone, however, than tiie congress began to reflect 
on the warm eulogium which he had pronounced on the beauty and 
fertility of the Island ; and many of tlie chiefs expressed their fears, 
that so clever and sagacious a leader, would, on his return to his own 
country, induce the Gadelians to make an attempt to possess the 
kingdom by conquest. This apprehension, the moment it was 
expressed, possessed the opinions of the whole assembly. Accord- 
ingly a resolution was instantly adopted to cut off the foreigner 
before he had time to embark. Mac Cuil, one of their military 
Chieftains, with a force of 150 soldiers, immediately pursued Ith, 
and soon overtook him, as he marched through a circuitous route, 
in order to have a better view of the country. Ith, perceiving his 
pursuers armed, soon concluded what their object was, began to 
retreat precipitately to his ship, with his little band, and succeeded 
notwithstanding the celerity of the enemy's march, in gaining the 
shore. Here, within a cable's length of his vessel, resigning himself 
to the impulse of that military ardor which he inherited from his 
ancestors, and which neither the sagacity of age, nor the presence 
of fatal danger could restrain, he bravely turned on his assailants. 
The conflict, which soon became sanguinary, was supported with 
accustomed valor on the one side, and with that confidence which is 
usually inspired by superior numbers, on the other. After a long 
and doubtful struggle, the gallant Ith was mortally wounded, and 
his brave companions in arms, more desirous to preserve the body 
of their beloved commander from insult than to contend for the 
honor of an uncertain victory — a victory from which they could 
derive no immediate advantage — made good their retreat to the 
ship. The place where this battle was fougiit is called to this day 
3Iugha , Ith, or tho scene of Ith's defeat, on the banks of Lough 
Foyle. 

The Gadelians had not proceeded far to sea before their heroic 
leader died of his wounds. His son Lughaidh assumed the com- 
mand, and conducted them safely to Brigantium. He was careful 
however to preserve the body of his father till he arrived on tlie 
Spanish coast, where it was brougiit on shore and exposed to the 
view of the Gadelians, to inspire them with a just resentment of 
the treachery which they experienced from the inhabitants of 
Ireland. 

Lughaidh then took occasion to inforjii his countrymen of the 
salubrity of the climate and luxuriance of the soilof Erin, and that 
as discord and division prevailed amongst its rulers, that it might be 
easily conquered. The efi:ect of this speech was to kindle the 
ambition and resentment of the Gadelians, and the hope of conquest 
and the desire of revenge gave an impetuous incentive to their 
resolution of invading Ireland; with what success shall be seen in 
the next chapter. 

Having now given a brief history of the origin and wanderings of 



43 

the Gadelians, it is necessary to notice some objections which may 
be urged against the account we have given of their voyages and 
travels. 

The grounds on which this account is founded have been furnished 
by our most creditable historians. It may be said that from the 
imperfect knowledge of navigation in those remote times, it is not 
probable that the Gadelians could accomplish so many voyages from 
Egypt to Crete — from Crete to Scythia — thence to Africa — tlience 
to Spain, and thence to Ireland. To remove this objection we must 
refer to what we have already said with regard to the early know- 
ledge of navigation, in vindicating the history of the four Ante- 
Milesian Colonies. 

"Voyages and transmigrations," says M'Geoghegan, " where the 
luimor of these ancient times. Men had not yet taken root ; and 
territorial possessions were not established by law, nor defended by 
justice. Tiie Tyrians, after coasting Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, 
.Gaul, and all the countries which surround the Mediterranean Sea, 
without stopping at any, entered the ocean by the straits of Gibraltar, 
and established themselves on the western coast of Spain, where 
they built the city of Cadiz, a long time before Utica and Carthage 
were founded, and while naval knowledge was yet in its infancy." 
In addition to the remarks of the Abbe M'Geoghegan, we might 
observe that the Phcenicians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the 
Carthaginians sent colonies into different countries, at a very early 
age. We are told by the historians that even Carthage, in the age 
of her glory, after founding 300 cities on the coast of Africa, finding 
herself still surcharged with inhabitants, sent General Hannon with 
a fleet of 30,090 volunteers, to survey the countries lying beyond the 
pillars of Hercules, and to establish colonies, as Strabo terms it, 
"on these remote confines.'''' 

The Scythians, from whom the Gadelians descended, and who 
were masters of the vast regions which extend from the Boristhenes 
to the county of the Massagetes, and from the Saces to the east of 
the Caspian Sea, had neither cities nor houses. They were always 
itinerant, and dwelt in tents, now in one country, and again in 
another. 

The ships of Ring Solomon traded to Arabia, Persia, India, and 
even to the western coasts of Africa, so that it is more than probable 
that from the earliest times, and immediately after the flood, men 
had discovered the secret of constructing vessels after the model of 
the ark, which had preserved their ansestors from the waters of the 
deluge. 

" Whatever truth," says Dr. Warner, " there may be in the 
Gadelian voyages, it appears incontestible that the people derive 
their origin from the Scythians. Their name, Kinea-Scuit, {i. e. the 
clan of Scythia,) or Scots, denote their eastern lineage. The 
agreement of foreign writers with their Fileas and Bards confirms 
it. Newton, after Appian and others, says that Greece and all 
Europe have been peopled by the Cimmerians, or Scythians, from 
the borders of the Pontus Euxinus, who led a wandering life, like 
the Tartars of the north of Asia." 



44 

It is true indeed that our Senachies have made some mistakes in 
their manner of conducting the GadeHans from Scythia to Spain, 
which, instead of sailing through the Mediterranean, they would 
fain make us believe that they bent their nautrical course through 
ways that were utterly impassable. But though they have mistaken 
the line which the Gadelian emigrants pursued, yet they have care- 
fully preserved the names of the different places where they had 
landed, in their passage from Phoenicia to Spain. This proves 
satisfactorily that the names related in our annals have been scrupu- 
lously preserved without alteration or correction. The testimony 
adduced from foreign writers by Mr. O'Connor, (which we shall 
insert in a future note,) in support of the emigration of the Scota 
Milesians from Egypt to Spain, adds strength and solidity to our 
historical monuments. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The landing of the Milesians in Ireland. The names of the principal Commanders 
who conducted the expedition from Spain. They repulse the Danans, iclio attacked 
them on their landing on the coast of Kerry : — a decisive battle, in which the 
Tuatha de Danans are overthrown, and the victory gives the Milesians possession 
of the whole Island. Objections answered. 

The desire of revenge and the hope of conquest gave a strong 
impulse to the warlike spirit that actuated the Milesians. Their 
armament was prepared with incredible despatch, in the port of 
Brigantium,* and nothing that zeal or assiduity could supply was 

* This city was, as we have already stated, built by Breogan, the grandfather 
of Milesius, who, according to our historians and some French writers, was the 
first prince that raised revenues and built castles in Spain. Our old annalists 
often distinguish the Milesians by the name of Clana Breogan, or the followers of 
Breogan. Whitaker says that these Brigantes made frequent voyages to South 
Britain, before they had invaded Ireland. 

Innis, the Scotch writer, who has cavilled so morosely at every relation in our 
history, exultingly quotes Nennius, a British historian, who wrote in the ninth 
century, to impugn the allegation of our annals. But what does that quotation 
amount to.-" Why it strengthens the bulwarks that defend the historic records of 
Ireland. Nennius mentions the celebrated light tower of Brigantium, and its 
reflecting glasses. Innis conjectures that the use of glass was not known in the 
age of Breogan ; but Innis and Macpherson were such extensive dealers in con- 
jecture and hypothesis, that the light of truth was aa offensive to their eyes as the 
rays of the sun are to those of the moping owls. That the ancients were 
acquainted with tlie use of such glasses as we are told Breogan fixed on his Pharos, 
is a fact well authenticated. 

The ships that sailed to Syria and Egypt were easily descried and reflected by 
means of a mirror placed on the Colossus of Rhodes. Who has not read of the 
destruction of the Roman fleet by the burning-glasses of Archimedes.'' 

Leo, in his description of Africa, also informs us, that one of the Ptolemies 
erected a tower of burning-glasses, at Alexandria, by the intervention of which 
ships could be set on fire at a great distance. 



45 

wanting in its completion. It consisted of 150 ships, well manned 
and appointed, which sailed under the orders of forty commanders, 
from the port of Brigantium, or Corunna, witii a favorable wind. 
In tiie foremost place among the leaders, we must class the sons of 
Milesius ; — these were Don and Aireach, born in Phoenicia — Heber 
— Fionn, and Andiergiii, born in Egypt; — Ir, and Colpa, born, as 
will appear in the last chapter, during the voyage of Milesius from 
Egypt to Spain ; — and Aranann and Heremon, born in Spain. 
Next to these in the station of honor were the sons of Breogan, 
named Breagha, from whom Mag-Breagha, his settlement in Meath, 
derives its name : Cuala, who has given name to Sliab Cuala: — 
Cualgne, whose name is commemorated by Sliah Cualgne, in the 
county of Down, and Bladh, after whom the mountain of Blama, in 
Leinster, was called Sliab Blamaht ; — Fuadh also honored a 
mountain with his cognomen ; and the celebrated scene of the death 
and defeat of the Ulster champion, Cucullain Murtheimhne (now 
NuUacrew, in the county of Louth) owes its appellation to one of 
the sons of Breogan. Besides those were Nare and Eibhle, as well 
as their nephews, Lughaidh and Er, Dorba, Fearon Feargna, the 
sons of Heber, and Muimhne Luighne, Laighne and Palp. The 
other leaders were Buas, Breas, Buarghne, Fulman, Mantan, Caicer, 
Suerge, En, Un, Eatan, Sobhairce, Seadna, Goistean, Bille and Lui. 
They were also attended by Scota, the widow of Milesius, and 
several other ladies of distinction, besides many Spanish women, the 
wives of these marine Brigantiums, and the Milesians were called 
from their city of Brigantium. 

The adventurers, after coasting along a part of Spain and France, 
arrived, at length, on the southern coasts of Ireland, and landed at 
Inbher Sceine, now Bantry Bay.* It received the name of Sceine, 
from Sceine, the wife of Amhergen, who, in her impatience to go 
ashore, fell overboard, and was drowned in this bay. 

Dr. Keating informs us that, prior to the landing of the Milesians 
in Bantry, they had attempted to land in Inbher-Slainge, now the 
harbour of Wexford ; but the Danans, by their magical enchant- 
ments, wrapped the Island in a cloud, so that it appeared to the 
Milesians under the form of a hog, from which it got the appellation 
of Muc-Iniiis, or the Hog's Isle. 

As soon as all their forces were disembarked, the chiefs marshalled 
them in order of battle, and marched to 8liahh-mis, a strong position, 
where they encamped. Here, in a council of war, they resolved on 

* Bantry Bay, in the county of Cork, distant 217 miles from Dublin, is capable 
of containing all the shipping in Europe. The shores that fringe this fine bay are 
bold and picturesque, presenting sloping hills, crowned with monastic ruins, and 
verdure-clad rocks which are fantastically grouped in the fore-ground of the land- 
scape. The town of Bantry looks as if it emerged out of the sea ; it is a pleasant 
and cheerful village, that is much frequented by strangers during the summer- 
months. Colonel Ireton, whose progress throiigh Ireland was marked with fire 
and blood, caused Bantry to feel the effects of Cromwellian mercy, by putting 
such of the inhabitants, as were well disposed to the royal cause, to the sword. 
Formerly immense shoals of pilchards were caught in the Bay, which made the 
town a great fish mart, and afforded employment and emolument to many of the 
inhabitants. But of late years not a single pilchard has appeared on the coast. 



46 

sending an embassy to the court of ibe Dnnan Princes, to demand 
their resig^nation of the sovereignty of tlie island, and reparation 
for the death of their gallant rehative Ith, whom the Danans, in 
violation of tlie laws of nations, had slain in a treacherous manner. 
Amhergin, who was delegated to deliver this embassy, attended by 
some of the Milesian chiefs, appeared before the sons of Cearmada, 
and announced, in haughty terms, the purport of his arrival ; laying 
at the same time great stress on the formidable forces which the 
invaders had ready to wrest the sceptre of authority from them, in 
case that hostilities should supercede pacific overtures. This threat, 
as the crafty Druid intended, intimidated the Danans, who, after 
some consultation, informed him that they were not then prepared 
for an engagement, having no previous notice of their arrival: that 
it was not honorable for so martial a people as the Milesians, to take 
an enemy by surprise ; and that, if they gave them time to embody 
their army, they would then try the fortune of war in a general 
engagement. After an animated debate that gave rise to a warm 
discussion, it was finally agreed on that the Milesians should re-em- 
bark with all their forces ; that they should clear the coast, or, as 
some say, sail nine waves from the shore ; and that if they made 
good their landing a second time, the Danans would consider it a 
just invasion, and either submit as a tributary people, or oppose 
them as a hostile nation, as they might think proper. 

This compact was ratified by both parties, and, according to its 
conditions, the Milesians returned on board, with all their forces and 
equipments, and sailed once more the prescribed distance into the 
ocean ; but when tacking about in order to make good their second 
landing, a violent storm arose, which our annalists ascribe to the 
enchantment of the Damnonii. Be this, however, as it may, the 
Milesians sufiered severely. The rage of the tempest and the want 
of sea-room, conspired to produce the disaster, that was near 
annihilating the Milesian fleet. The ship commanded by Don was 
driven into the Shannon, and dashed to pieces on a ledge of rocks 
near Killaloe, where every soul on board perished. The same fate 
overtook Ir's galley, which was wrecked on the coast of Desmond. 
The remainder of the fleet, though dismally shattered, stood out to 
sea to wait the cessation of the storm. While the gale raged in its 
fury, Arranan, who with valiant courage ascended one of the masts 
of his ship, to secure some sails, which no other person on board 
durst attempt, was dashed upon the deck by the violence of the 
squall, and killed. Knock-Arranan, in the county of Kerry, still 
commemorates the place of his sepulture. The sqaudron under the 
orders of Heremon, though dreadfully dismantled and crippled, were 
fortunate enough to weather the destructive tempest, and make land 
at Inbher-Colpa, the swordsman who perished here together with 
Aireach, where the river of Boyne disembogues itself into the sea, 
two miles S. W. of Drogheda. Ileber and Amhergin were equally 
successful in making their landing good on the coast of Kerry. 
While the Milesians were thus buftetting the warfare of the elements, 
the Damnonii were making the most active preparations for the 
warfiare of the sword. The crisis of their fate was at hand, and 



47 

life and empire were the forfeits of the great game vvliicii they had 
to piay. Thej raised their entire people en masse, and marched to 
meet the invaders with a resohite spirit, animated by hope and a 
well-founded confidence in their own valor and fortitude. The 
Milesians under Heber and Ainhergin, far from being- disheartened 
by their marine disasters, assumed a bold attitude, and presented a 
formidable front to their assailants, who fiercely attacked them in 
their entrenched camp at Sliabh-niis, in the vicinity of Tralee.* 
After a desperate conflict, where sanguinary carnage reared its 
colossal throne with human bodies, victory, dearly purchased, 
declared herself the favoring goddess of the Milesians. The Danans 
left 1000 of their slain on the bloody field. The Milesians lost 300 
of their bravest troops, among whom were two venerable Druids, 
who, during the action, encouraged them with their prayers, while 
they fought like heroes. We must not omit also to record the 
glorious death of Scota, the widow of Milesius, and Fais, the wife 
of Un, who, like intrepid Amazons, joined in the strife of the 
battle. The ladies were buried next day, with all the pomp of 
funeral solemnities. Scota, in a valley called to this day " Glan- 
Scota," near Tralee; and Fais, in another valley, which in honor of 
her memory is still denominated " Glan-Fais.'''' 

The Milesians, now flushed with conquest, and their leader, Heber, 
anticipating future victories from the success that attended his arms 
at the battle of Tralee, boldly marched with his triumphant army 
into the interior of the country ; cheered by the hope of meeting 
some of his brothers or kindred, who had been separated from him 
by the late storm. After a long and tedious march, he arrived at 
Drogheda, directed thither, in all probability, by some communica- 
tions which he had received, that his brother Heremon had landed 
in that port. 

But whether fortune, or a knowledge of the event, had guided his 
course, he had the satisfaction of finding his friends here before him, 
who informed hiin of the melancholy fate of his five brothers. The 
forces of Heber and Heremon having thus happily forn)ed a junction, 
they made the necessary preparations for opening the ensuing 
campaign under brilliant auspices. They now considered the 
Island their own by right of conquest, and they resolved to spurn all 
overtures that the Tuatha de Danans might make, which should not 
have for their basis an unconditional surrender of the government 
into their hands as Lords paramount. Having learned from their 
spies, that the Danans were strongly encamped on the plains of 
Taylton, in Meath, not far distant, they quickly determined to 
march immediately and force them to an engagement, which they 

* Tralee is the capital of the county of Kerry, a flourishing town situated on a 
fine bay. Tralee was granted, in 1173, by Denis McCarthy, Prince of Cork, to 
Maurice Fitz-Maurice, the ancestor of the Earl of Kerry, for military services 
rendered tliat Prince. Richard 11. of England created Thomas Fitz-Maurice Vis- 
count Kerry, A. D. 1396. The ruins of a monastery founded here in 1261, for 
Dominican friars, by one of this family, proclaim the ancient grandeur of Tralee. 
McCarthy's castle, which Elizabeth gave to one of her marauders of the name of ' 
Denny, is still in good preservation. 



48 

doubted not would finally decide tlieir fate. It is not improbable 
that the Fir-bolgs, or Belga), ill brooking the yoke to which they had, 
as will be seen by our preceding chapters, been subjected by the 
ascendancy of the Daranonii, joined the standard of the Milesians 
on the present occasion. It would be unwise policy to stand aloof, 
knowing, as they must, that their neutrality would be punished by 
those on whom fortune would confer the sovereignty of the island. 
And to this course they were not devoted by the dictates of policy 
alone ; — the desire of revenge, which generally possesses, in spite of 
religion and philosophy, great sway over human feelings, must have, 
undoubtedly, co-operated with the suggestions of prudence. 

Heber and Heremon having reached the plains of Tailtean, in 
Meath, where the Danan princes were prepared to receive them, sent 
a second embassy, ordering them to resign their dominion, or appoint 
a day to decide who were the most worthy of imperial power. This 
message of defiance and insult ignited the coldest of Danan hearts 
with the flame of patriotism and courage. The Damnonii, undis- 
mayed by the disasters that had hitherto attended their arms, boldly 
replied, that they would die possessed of that regal dignity with 
which they were then invested — a dignity which they had not only 
acquired, but maintained during a period of nearly two centuries, 
by their bravery and valor. A battle now became inevitable. 

Both armies entered the field on the appointed day, with the 
resolution to either conquer or die. The Milesians were led by the 
three brothers, Heber, Heremon, and Amhergin ; and the Damnonii 
by three brethren Princes, Mag Grein, Mac Ceath, and Mac Cuil, 
the latter of whom, it will be remembered, was he that slew Ith. 
The cheerful lark had scarcely carolled to the morning breeze her 
peace-inspiring lay, when the banners of destruction waved their 
sable influence in the dusky air, and called forth the hostile troops, 
who advanced with awful determination to the carnage of ambition. 
The Damnonii imagined that they fought under the protection of 
heaven, because they fought, indeed, in defence of their country and 
of its liberties and deities; they fought under the sanction of justice, 
to defend from the insult of hostile invaders, their wives and children, 
those fondest pledges of humanity, that cling to us with ten-fold 
endearment amid the horrors of death, and the menaces of danger. 
The Milesians, on the other hand, full of the idea that Ireland was 
the country destined for them by the appointment of the Fates — the 
promised land of prediction, derived that confidence from belief, 
which the Tuatha de Danans did from the justice of their cause ; 
and those feelings of revenge which the death of Ith aroused formerly 
in their bosoms, were now in a vehement blaze of inveterate rancour. 
Animated with these incentives, and nearly equal in point of 
numbers, they rushed furiously to the charge. The contest, though 
terrible, was supported on both sides with equal courage and resolu- 
tion. The scene of horror, which commenced before the morning 
sun had reached the eastern horizon, still waved the purple "ensign 
of slaughter when he terminated his solar course in the western 
main. 

It is, indeed, to be lamented that ancient histories, attentive only 



49 

to the general issue of engagements, neglect detailing the particular 
rencontres and evolutions, which have led to victory or defeat. This 
omission is partly accounted for by one circumstance which generally 
decided the issue of all battles in those early times. Military science, 
in comparison to what it is now, was scarcely known ; and victory, 
instead of emanating from the skill and dispositions of an able 
general, was always the result of personal bravery and physical 
strength. The historian had, therefore, little more to relate than 
the mere issue of an engagement ; but though this w^ns generally 
the case, particular circumstances sometimes occurred tliat gave 
interest to the circumstantial details of military operations. In the 
present instance we are told that the opposing chiefs, wearied with 
mutual carnage, sought for each other, to decide by personal combat 
the destiny of their people. They soon met, and both armies, as if 
by mutual consent, suspended the work of havoc and death, to 
witness the gigantic struggle between these Horatii and Curatii, on 
whose swords the fate of Ireland, like that of Rome, now vacillated. 
Fortune awarded the triumph to the Milesians. Mac Cuil fell by 
the arm of Heber. Mac Ceath met the same fate from the hand of 
Heremon ; and Mac Grein yielded to the conquering arm of 
Amhergin. 

The Danans, dispirited and dismayed by the fall of their royal 
chiefs, submitted to the over-ruling power of the fates, and retreated 
precipitately from the field ; but the Milesians, determined to follow 
up their victory, pursued them in their flight to Sleagh-Cualg7ie, 
where they made a stand, and fought with such desperation, that the 
Milesian advanced guard was cut to pieces, and its leaders, Cualgne 
and FuADH, the sons of Breogan, slain at its head ; but Heremon 
and Heber coming up with their reserves, broke the line of the 
Danans, and spread annihilation and death through their ranks. 
This defeat sealed their overthrow, and left them without even a 
hope of being ever again able to recover the dominion of Ireland, 
which had been swayed by nine of their Princes, during a period of 
one hundred and ninety-five years. Such of the Danans as were 
too proud to wear the chains of Milesian subjection, retired to Britain, 
and settled in Devonshire and Cornwall. In allusion to the victories 
of the Milesians, Dr. Warner says: — " From some of the poetical 
fragments translated in the English version of Keating's history, it 
appears that there is still extant a beautiful description of the battles 
between the Milesians and the Damnonians, in ■which are celebrated 
the funeral rites that were performed for two of the Spanish Druids, 
as well as for the three Princesses. These fragments not only give 
us a great idea of their poetry, but also show in what manner all 
their public transactions were delivered down and registered by their 
Bards." 

Ill the foregoing narrative we have essayed to make ancient and 
modern history the basis of our detail respecting the Milesians. 
We certainly disclaim the idea which some critics have of an impar- 
tial histoi-ian — that his duty should be to state facts, without note or 
comment, as the observations of the historian, however just, must 
necessarily excite feelings in some quarter that are better hushed in 
7 



50 

the tranquil calni of mutual conciliation and eternal oblivion. This 
view of impartiality might have some claim to our consideration, if 
human actions could be contemplated independent of that inseparable 
link which connects them with the motives that first produced them, 
or that still perpetuates their existence ; — but as human actions have 
no value in themselves, except what they derive from these motives, 
as even the worst action cannot be criminal, if there be no intention 
of crime in the mind of the perpetrator ; and as the best action 
cannot be pronounced virtuous, without volition, or a consciousness 
of its moral value on the part of him who performs it ; — nay, as it 
may become the most detestable of crimes, if perpetrated v.ith the 
most vile intention ; this view, we think, of impartiality should be 
rejected with dignified disdain. Nor can any historian with a heart 
throbbing with feeling obey the restraint which this stoic principle 
inculcates, unless he be utterly divested of human passion, and that 
he can arm his mind with that specious philosophic indifference, 
which abstracting itself from all tlie interests of humanity, considers 
virtue and vice independent of their association with the propensities 
of man ; and views them as mere instruments of utility, not as 
impressed with the characters of good or evil. Indeed, the frigid, 
abstract philosopher may look down with a smile of profound 
indiff"erence on every thing which man esteems great and exalted ; — 
he may deem virtue founded on a visionary basis, that exists only in 
the fantastic imagery of an ideal creation, and vice to be only its 
reverse ; — he may accordingly deem a virtuous course of action to 
be the mark of consequential and necessary error, not the expression 
of motives in the mind of man, that are either virtuous or meritorious 
a 'priori ; and which assume that character only from a combination 
of erroneous principles, premises, or data, on which the genius of 
superior reason, in its redeeming excellence, frowns with an expres- 
sion of sovereign contempt. Be it so ; it is not for us to investigate 
the claims of modern philosophy, or to derogate from its high 
pretensions in this boasted age, when literature and science have 
poured upon intellect the milder influence of their auspicious 
irradiation — when the muses woo it to the academic shade — and 
when the arts make it the shrine of their trophies ; — but as a historian 
we feel we cannot avail ourself of this sublime privilege, or endure 
the restraints which it would impose upon our passions and national 
prejudices. Who can point out the historic stream that is not 
discolored by natural sympathy or partial propensities ? To say 
that the historian should not seem to take part one way or other, 
in the opposite interests that become the subject of his page, nor 
betray that warmth of temper in his observations, which in the 
opinion of those who make the assertion, is a certain indication of 
weakness or of partiality — is, in other words, to maintain that there 
is no reason to support truth in preference to error — to join with 
the innocent against the guilty — to vindicate the oppressed from the 
wrongs of the oppressor, the slave from the inflictions of the tyrant ; 
and that there is nothing in the advocacy of suffering virtue, of 
devoted patriotism, that can excite our generous feelings or national 
sympathy — that can provoke our anger, or kindle our indignation. 



51 

This doctrine is surely the gloomy heterodoxy of cold-hearted 
misanthropes, who never felt a pang of pity for the wrongs and 
sorrows of their native land, and who, instead of having hearts 
sensitively " alive to each fine impulse," exult at the adversity that 
breaks the spirit of the struggling patriot — wanton in the political 
debasement, and revel in the civil privations of their fellow-creatures. 
The bronzed cheeks of such torpid stoics were never furrowed by 
the genial tear of compassion, their hearts never glowed with affec- 
tion for country or kindred. Yes, say these shallow philosophers, 
those matters should not be exhibited in the range of history ; they 
are out of the province of the historian, and solicit no investigation; 
for they make no appeal to the tribunal of history. To this 
historical heresy we shall never conform; we indignantly abjure its 
canons, and sincerely renounce its hypocritical and sophisticated 
dogmas. 

A strict adherence to truth should guide the pen of the historian 
in his investigation ; he should " weigh the moral characters," which 
he introduces on the historic theatre, "in the balance of the 
sanctuary," before he gives them a form and impress on the 
adamantine sculpture of history. He should have a mind too 
inflexible to be bent by the hands of prejudice, and too impenetrable 
to be impressed by political or religious prepossessions. The task 
in which he is engaged, is one of the most invidious nature ; he sits 
as judge to determine the opinion that posterity should entertain of 
departed characters, and this opinion can only be just so far as it 
quadrates with the irrevocable sentence that has been passed upon 
them, at the awful tribunal of eternity — a sentence not founded on 
the external conduct, but on the internal organization of the moral 
s.ystem. The impartial historian should, indeed, divest himself of 
all those arbitrary passions and propensities, that are not founded in 
the original cojistitution of justice and immutable laws of humanity. 
He must " consider right and tvrong in their invariable state, content 
himself with the sloto progress of his name, and commit his claims to the 
justice of posterity ;" but in flinging ofli" the incubus of bigotry and 
intolerance, let him still tenaciously retain the segis of truth, and 
when he combats with this invulnerable panoply, the shafts of 
objection and disputation shall fall blunted at his feet; he rnay 
therefore speak with confidence and spirit; — Verite sans peur.'''' 

In resuming the defence of our ancient annals, we shall commence 
by observing, that all the arguments advanced against them are of a 
negative character. They have not been rejected on the authority 
of contemporary writers; they have not been found refuted by the 
historical monuments of other nations; on the contrary, the more 
accurately they have been compared and contrasted with them, the 
more their claims to authenticity have been established on the basis 
of demonstration. We have already stated that we candidly admit 
that there is an admixture of fable running through the veins of the 
early history of Ireland ; but where is the history to be found that 
is not tinged with the coloring of poetic fiction ? The late Mr. 
Charles O'Connor, of Ballinagar, to whose learned inquiries into 
the antiquities of his country, our history is so much indebted, has 



52 

taken much pains in comparing and collating our ancient chronicles 
with the contemporary and parallel accounts of other nations, the 
result of which stamps the seal of authenticity on our Milesian origin. 
We are happy to avail ourselves of his profound researches, as they 
will cast a blaze of illustration on the historic narrative, which we 
have given in the preceding chapters, of the early colonization of 
Ireland. " After a diligent examination," says this erudite historian, 
*' of our fabulous and mythological history, I sought whether any 
parts of it could be supported by parallel accounts fvom other ancient 
and learned nations, who lived on the continent. I thought such a 
scrutiny the more necessary, as the original reports of so remote a 
people as those of Ireland must, upon the first review, be equally 
suspected with those of the northern countries. The satisfaction 
which I have received in this inquiry has, indeed, greatly exceeded 
my expectation. I own with great pleasure, that my Ijo-bts in these 
parallel researches were chiefly owing to the system of antiquities 
and chronology left us by Sir Isaac Newton : — it is he, and, 1 think, 
he only, who gives the most authentic and rational account of the 
introduction of arts, letters, and agriculture into Europe : and it is to 
his chiefly that the Scottish account of those matters can be recon- 
ciled. See then an additional and an unexpected degree of credit 
brought horne to our accounts , and that without the least knowledge 
or design of the great author who gave it ! The learned of Europe 
stood aghast, .amazed at the novelty of Sir Isaac's system : — and 
who can, without equal admiration, behold \.heremotest nation in the 
west transmitting such relations as prove a comment and support to 
that system ?" As it is impossible that such an agreement should 
happen from concert, or start from chance, the consideration of it 
will be important. We will previously exhibit, in opposite columns, 
a short view of this connexiono 

PARALLEL ACCOUNTS OF FOREIGN AND IRISH HISTORIANS RESPECTING 

THE MILESIAN COLONY. 

I. I. 

Foreign Testimonies. The Native Fileas. {\) 

* An Emigrant Colony of * The Iberian Scots, border- 

* A colony of Iberians went to " Leabar — Gabala — Lib. I. Keating's 
Europe, gave the name of Iberus (Ebro) MSS. Ogygia, page 66. 

to a river in Spain, and occupied Spain 
itself. RucBus ex Appian in JEncid. 

(1) The Fileas were the highest orders of the Bards; they were the royal 
historiographers, and ranked at the great convocation of learned professors that 
assembled at Tara annually, next to the Druidical order. In all wars and dissen- 
sions their persons and properties were sacred and inviolable. They were endowed 
by the government ; and the donations given them by military chiefs, ambitious 
of having their fame consecrated in their songs, were immense. Their privileges 
were often detrimental to the state. If they libelled innocence, or even vilified 
the monarch himself, they were exempt from the visitation of justice. They 
pleaded in no tribunal, except where their own order were the judges. Besides 
occasional benefactions, they derived a great revenue from their odes, elegies, and 
eulogiums. In early times the laws, the history, and the sciences were conveyed 
through the medium of verse; and the Bard was at once a poet, a legislator, a 
historian, and an artist. They always accompanied their chiefs to battle, to 



53 

Iberians, from tlie borders of the ing originally on the Euxine sea; 
Eiixine and Caspian seas, settled were expelled their country ; and, 
in Spain. after various adventures, settled 

ultimately in Spain. 

II. II. 

* A colony of Spaniards, by * Kinea Scuit (the Scots) and 
the name of Scots, or Scythians, the posterity of Eber Scot (Ibe- 
settled in Ireland, in the fourth rian Scythians) were a colony of 
a"-e of the world. Spaniards who settled in Ireland, 

about a thousand years before 

Christ. 

III. HI. 

t The Phoenicians, who first t The ancient Iberian Scots 
introduced letters and arts into learned the use of letters from a 
Europe, had an early commerce celebrated Phoenius, from whom 
with the Iberian Spaniards. they took the name of Phceuii, or 

Phoenicians. 

IV. IV. 

I Nil, Belus, Sihor, Osihor, i: Niul, Bileus, Sru, Asm, Tat, 
Thoth, Ogmius, &c. were Egyp- and Ogaman, were mighty in 
tian warriors, who filled the world Egypt and several other countries, 
with the fame of their exploits. 

V. V. 

^ The Egyptian conqueror of § A great hero, famous in 
Spain got the emphatic name of Egypt, obtained the name of 
the hero, or Hercules. Golambhand Miha-Espaine, i. e. 

the hero of Spain. 

VI. VI. 

II Nil, Sichor, Osichor, &c. || Niul, Sru, Asru, &c. suc- 
succeeded to the Phoenicians, in ceeded to Phoenius, in teaching 
cultivating and instructingseveral the use of arts and letters, 
nations. 

VII. VII. 

^ In the days of the first |[ The conquest of Spain, 

Hercules, or Egyptian conqueror together with draught, forced the 

of Spain, a great drought parched Iberian Scuits, or Scots, to fly 

up several countries. into Ireland. 

These striking coincidences must give additional strength of 
probability to our historic structure, for surely the most incredulous 
will allow, that they could never be traced in the fairy ground of 
fable ; because even if it were argued that those ancient writers on 

animate them with song in tlie height of the engagement, and bear witness to 
their deeds, in order that they might be recorded. 

" YiAeMewton Chronol. Dublin ed. ^ Leh. Gab. Ogygia. O'Flynn. 

p. 10 Buchan. Rer. Scotic. t Leabar Gab. Keating. Lynch. 

t Strabo, Lib. 3. Universal History. Psalter of Cashel. Ogygia. 

t JVewton Chron. X Leabar Gab. 

§ Ibid. § Ibid, et omnes nostri. 

II Id. passim. || Leb. Gab. Keating. O' Flaherty. 

H Id. pp. 98, 231. Psalter of Cashel. 

Tf Ogygia. Regan. Book of Tara. 



54 

the continent, whose historic details have been found to coincide 
with those of our Fllea?., were themselves only fabulists and corapi- 
lers of fiction, yet still, it will not also be asserted, that those 
imaginary events which they recorded should, from mere chance, 
hajjpen to be the same with those said to be invented by our ancient 
bards. Macpherson, and the Irish apostate, Ledwich, charge our 
annalists with the invention of historical falsehoods, in order to 
impose them on posterity as historical trutlis ; while their own 
spurious statements, like blasted oaks, are rotting and decaying 
by the corroding fingers and cankering excrescence of their dreamy, 
fictitious, and puerile romance. What have they advanced for 
history, but unauthenticated fables, a tangled tissue of improbability, 
in which no intelligent or acute reader can discover the warp and 
woof of truth ? But their fabrications have been dissolved ; for every 
dispassionate man will admit, that they and the arch hypocrite, 
Hume, under the guise of pretended liberality and assumed candor, 
have sacrificed historical truth and justice to court the favor of 
English patronage and promote the despotic views of English policy. 
Happily, the ignorance of these historians has been as easily detected 
and exposed, as the baseness of their motives has been made 
manifest; for though our annals are impressed with the strongest 
characters of fiction, yet it is undeniable that there are also the 
strongest evidences of their high antiquity. To relate an event 
simply as it happened is the part of the philosophic historian ; — to 
detract from the virtue, the generosity, the magnanimity of mind, 
that produced it, is reserved for the interested historifying politician, 
who, in almost all his reasonings, abstracts himself from the impulses 
and sympathies that enter into the noblest elements of human nature; 
but exaggeration is the lofty, though faulty privilege, not only of 
the patriotic historian and genealogical Seancce,* but more particu- 
larly of the enraptured Bard, who identifies himself with all the 
interests of humanity, — who feels those very emotions and passions 
which he so ardently describes, — whose fervid bosom glows with 
that refined generosity, that tender sensibility, that heroic notion of 
an exalted spirit, which characterize his heroes; and who in a \vord, 
can find nothing so sublimated in the nature of man, nor conceive 
any thing so romantic in the ardor of his aifections, of which he did 
not believe himself capable. In describing, therefore, the exploits 
of his ancestors, the Irish bard could not easily resist those mingled 
emotions of patriotic enthusiasm and military renown, that led him 
to attribute the actions of others to the same greatness of soul, and 
soaring of ambition that would have produced them in himself He 
knew, "nay, he felt that he was not writing the history of a cold, 
calculating, and mercenary people, who are never prompted to those 
achievements that dignify the historic page ; and who ate alone 
actuated by the probable consequences that result from action ; not 
by that noble daring — those high and sublime sentiments of heroism 
and of virtue, which contemplate only the motives that should induce 
to, and not the dangers that may await on chivalric actions. Neither 



* The genealogical Antiquarian Storyteller. 



55 

are we to be surprised if many exploits, that appear incredible to 
tlie Pyrrhonism of the laggard philosophy that prevails at the present 
era, should in those days of chivalrie bravery, not only be attetn[)ted 
with coniidence, but executed with success. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Milesians estallish their government on the basis of justice and wisdom in 
Ireland. Their beneficial institutions a?id judicious polity. Partition of Ireland 
by Heber and Hei cmon. Discord and dissension caused by the toife of Ilebcr ; 
the fatal results that ensue. Death of Heber in an engagement ivith his brother. 
Heremon sole monarch of Ireland — he successively defeats Caicer, Jlmlicrgin, Un 
and Vighe — the arrival of the Picts— their plans and intrigues discovered, and 
frustrated : alliance bctioecn them and Her e?no?i— ultimately the invaders settle in 
North Britain. Death and character of Heremon, the great founder of the O'JVicl 
dynasty. 

The last decisive victory secured the Milesians the sovereignty of 
the kingdom of Ireland. Having nothing now to apprehend from 
foreign, or internal enemies, Heber and Heremon began to organize, 
in conjunction with their Druidical brother Amhergin, a code of 
laws for the government of their people. The legislative enactments 
of these conquerors were dictated by a spirit of equitable justice, and 
enlightened policy, towards the conquered natives, that impresses us 
with a high sense of their wisdom and prudence. After concurring 
in the extent of sovereign power that each brother should assume 
and sway in the executive administration of their realms, they 
proceeded to make a division of the kingdom. 

In arranging this partition, Heber and Heremon poid partictilar 
regard to the suggestions and decision of Amhergin, the High Priest. 
Our annalists do not accord in their detail of the particular territo- 
ries allotted to each of tiiese Princes. Dr. Keating informs us, that 
some learned antiquarians assign the northern part from the river 
Boyne* and Scuibh to Heremon, and thence southward to the Ocean, 
to Heber. 

* The JBoyne, a noble and romantic river, rises in the King's County, and after 
a devious course winds its tributary streams into the sea at Drogheda. Its banks 
are adorned witli the towns of Trim, Navan, Slane and Drogheda, Longwood, 
Edenderry and Kinnegad, the latter in the country of West Meath. 

The battle between James II. and William III. fought at Old Bridge, near 
Drogheda, on the banks of this river in 1690, has given immortal celebrity to the 
Boyne. The Doric Obelisk, erected in 1736, to commemorate a victory lost by the 
imbecility of James, and won by the foreign mercenaries of the Dutch Usurper, 
is a grand and imposing pillar, which towers to the elevation of 150 feet. The 
inscriptions on the four sides, record the event of the victory and the deeds of 
Schomberg and the other chiefs of William's army. In 1821, we were one, among 
the countless multitude, that followed the late George IV. King of England to Old 
Bridge. His Majesty did not alight from his carriage on that occasion, to view 
the obelisk, but the Marquis Conyngham pointed out to him the spot where 
Schomberg was killed in the river, and the positions which the hostile armies 
occupied qu its right and left banks. June 1835. 



56 

Rejecting", however, this alleged division, he adduces other 
authorities that assert the two provinces of Munster were appropri- 
ated to the possession of Heher, wliile Leicester and Coniiaught 
formed the dominions of Herenion ; and to Eimher, the son of their 
brother Ir, was given as a patrimonial territorj^ the entire province 
of Ulster. O'Flaherty and M'Geoghegan endeavor to sustain the 
correctness of Keating's partition ; but Dr. O'lialloran, who seems 
to have made more accurate and profound inquiries than either of 
these historians, states, that Heber, as being the eldest brother, chose 
the southern part, a line of division being drawn from the Bay of 
Galway to the Bay of Dublin, by which Leinster and Munster fell 
to liis share, while the house of Heremon enjoyed for its portion of 
the distribution, the provinces of Ulster find Connaught. This bears 
the evident marks of truth, and subsequent facts establish its accu- 
racy on a solid foundation of probability. For whenever the house 
of Heber was deprived by the branches of the Heremonian Dynasty 
of the Monarchy, it contended for the original partition — a partition 
whose limits were subsequently defined, and acknowledged by the 
faith of a solemn treaty made A. D. 156, between Con, " of the 
hundred battles," and Eogan-more, Monarch of Ireland. By the 
terms of this treaty, the southern provinces of Ireland were denomi- 
nated ^^ Leat-Mogha,'" and the northern "■ Lent-Cuin." * The 
division of territories being finally adjusted to the satisfaction of 
both the brothers, their kindred and officers were rewarded with 
grants of land. To Eimher, the son of Ir, several territories were 
allotted, by his uncle Heremon, in Ulster. Heber also bestowed 
large tracts of land to Lughaidh, the son of Ith, in the counties of 
Cork and Kerry. These chiefs held their possessions, as feudatories 
to the ruling princes. This was the origin of the feudal system in 
Ireland. Each class of the subordinate dependents of these chiefs 
had land parcelled out to them, in the vicinage of the residence of 
the head of the sept, for which they were obliged to render military 
service to him when called upon. The two brothers vied with each 
other in their endeavors to disseminate the blessings of a paternal 
government through the isle, and concord and affection seemed to 
cement together not only the hearts of the fond brothers, but those 
also of their devoted subjects. But this was like the calm that 
precedes the coming of the tempest. A contention arose between 
them that threatened disastrous residts. 

In appointing their retinues, who were to accompany them to their 
respective seats of government, each brother strenuously insisted on 
retaining in his service a Poet of great genius, and a Musician so 
eminently skilled in his soul-touching art as to rival Orpheus 
himself. 

Heber maintained tliat without the inspiring stanzas of Cir mac 
Nis (as the Poet was called) the notes of O'Nai's harp would sound 
discordant in his ear ; while Heremon on the other hand, declared 
he set his heart on the union of the rhyme of the Poet, and the 
dulcet melody of the harper. Both were obstinately determined to 

* Leat, in Irish, signifies half, or share. 



57 

possess the sons of song, and their strife was on the point of the 
most fatal consequences, when Amhergin, the arch-Druid prevailed 
on tliem to submit their difi'erence to his mediation. 

He cast lots by which Heber gained the Musician, and Heremon, 
the Bard. In consequence of this distribution an impression long 
prevailed in the popular traditions of Ireland, that Ulster excelled in 
poetry, and Munster in music* This, indeed, is an instance of that 
early protection with which poetry and music were fostered by the 
literary Milesians. Nor were these the only arts that received 
encouragement from the tutelary hand of regal patronage ; — it also 
extended its shielding support to the sciences, agriculture, manu- 
factures, and commerce. Twenty-four men, well versed in agriculture 
were appointed to reclaim twenty-four tracts of land, that, probably, 
lay uncultivated since the creation. To such readers as view with 
secret satisfaction the simplest affairs of antiquity, the names of these 
agriculturists may not be uninteresting, as the portions of land 
which they cultivated still bear the names, of their improvers, for 
posterity. These men, whom Swift would eulogize above all Philoso- 

* On this subject an old Irish Poet bestows the following stanzas : — 

" The learned Princes, Heber and Heremon 

Contended which should, with the Poet's art 

And the Musician's skill be entertained — 

They cast the lots ; the northern Prince enjoyed 

The pleasing- charms of poetry ; and Heber 

With music first his southern subjects blessed. 

From hence the generous Irish, with rewards, 

Did bountifully crown the Poet's skill, 

And music flourished in the southern coasts." 
Cambrensis, who was one of our earliest libellers, was still obliged to admit the 
perfection of the Irish in music. After he had heard the minstrels who attended 
the Irish chieftains at a banquet given to them in Dublin by Henry II. he wrote 
to one of his friends in England as follows : " Of all nations within our knowledge, 
this is, beyond comparison, the chief in musical composition." When the cele- 
brated Italian composer, Geminiani heard some of our pathetic airs in London, 
he exclaimed, " Ha ! that is the music of a people that lost their liberty ! 1 have 
heard nothing so sweet and plaintive, and of such an original turn on this side of 
the Alps." The celebrated Handel declared often, that '■' he would rather be the 
author of O'Daly's ' Ellen .9roon' than of all his own compositions." 

" Military music made part of the studies of the Irish Warriors. It filled them 
with courage, and a contempt of danger; and it was by the help of the military 
song they sounded the charge, rally, retreat, &c. Their great proficients iu the 
art were called Coradhs, (or masters)." — Vide 0^ Connor's Disser. 

" In the sixth century the Britons and Welsh studied music under the Irish 
professors, in the College of Armagh, which was then so renowned a University, 
that it was called the ^^ great school of the west'" of Europe." — Vide Wartons His- 
tory of English Poetry. 

" At this time, says Magnesius, (Apology, page 112,) there were no less than 
seven thousand matriculated students in the University of Armagh." 

" No nation can be found in any part of the world more skilled in music than 
were the ancient Irish." — Ward's Diss, on History, page 271. 

" The Irish Historians contend that their country is the celebrated Hyperborean 
Isle, and that music is the native production of the soil, and in support of this 
pretension they quote the following passage from Diodoras Siculds. ' Ertn 
is a large laland, little less than Sicily, lying opposite the CeltcB, and inhabited by 
the Hyperboreans. The country is fruitful and pleasant, dedicated to Apollo, and 
most of the people Priests or Songsters. In it is a large grove, and in this a 
temple of a round form, to which the Priests often resort with their harps to chaunt 
the praises of their god, Apollo.' " — Warner. 

8 



58 

phers, for raising millions of " Blades of grass, where none grew 
before," were called Aidhne, Ai, Asal, Meidhe, Morba, Meide, Ciiibli, 
Cliu, Ceara, Reir, Slan, Leighe, Liife, Line, Leighean, Tria, Du!a, 
Adhar, Aire, Deisi, Dela, Fea, Fenihean, and Serahe. Fertility and 
improvement soon gave smiling charms to the aspect of the landscape, 
and Ceres and Pomona spread their bountiful donations over its 
valleys and mountains. 

" The clearing of the land in this manner," says Dr. Warner, 
" gave rise to agriculture, whose vestiges are now to be seen in some 
of the most waste and uncultivated parts of the Island. If this does 
not afford a proof of the superior numbers, it is at least a proof of 
the superior industry of the ancient inhabitants over the present ; 
and though the old Milesians had an invincible prejudice against 
mechanical handicraft occupations, which were carried on by the 
remaining Belgians or their slaves, yet that agriculture was in high 
repute and estimation." To these remarks of the English historian, 
it may be added that it is a remarkable feature in the history of our 
ancestors, that while several historical facts have been omitted, our 
antiquarians have sedulously transmitted to us the names of all those 
who encouraged agriculture, which, indeed, seems to have been 
more particularly attended to by the ancient Milesians, than those 
may be willing to allow, who connect the idea of ferocious indepen- 
dence to the feudal system of antiquity. 

While Heber and Heremon were daily becoming more connected 
by the bonds of fraternal attachment, and reciprocal kindness, 
woman, that source of good and evil to man, severed the ties of 
affection and affinity, and threw down the apple of discord among 
the two brothers. They had scarcely reigned a year, when a rupture, 
resulting from the pride and ambition of Heber's wife, divided them 
by an abyss of enmity and malice. There happened to be three 
beautiful and picturesque vales, on the adjoining confines of their 
respective territories, two of which were in possession of Heber, 
who suffered weeds to luxuriate where nature intended flowers should 
flourisli ; while the third, which belonged to Heremon, was decorated 
by his tasteful queen with every embellishment of art that could 
improve nature. 

This vale, in the decoration of which Tea, the wife of Heremon, 
took so much pleasure, was as pleasing and enchanting, if we credit 
our annalists, as the glen of Tempe, for its shady groves, floral 
bowers, meandering rivulets, hanging gardens, and gushing fountains 
of crystal water, rendered it an earthly elysium. Seated in one of 
these bowers, this lady often sang in concert with the minstrels of 
her palace, filling the air with music, with was redolent with the 
odorous breath of flowers. Such was the paradise that arose under 
the plastic hand of female taste : and such are the charms it can 
impart to the spontaneous productions of luxuriant nature. The 
loveliness of thi^ vale excited the envy of Heber's queen, who insisted 
on possessing it also. Her husband, over whom she exercised 
unlimited sway, unable to resist the influence of the seductive 
blandishment of female entreaty, and perhaps, moved by the loftier 
views of ambition, insisted, in a haughty manner, that his brother 
Heremon ishonld resign the vale. 



59 

Tea, however, a lady whose mental endowments were only 
equalled by her personal attractions, found no difficulty in persuading 
her spouse to refuse so unwarrantable and ungracious a demand. 
When the messenger returned to the Queen of lleber, and commu- 
nicated the peremptory denial of her brother-in-law, she became 
enraged, and by the power of tears and supplications, she forced 
her husband to take up arms in her cause. A civil war was the 
immediate consequence. The two brothers, by mutual consent, led 
their forces to the plains of Gcisoil,* in Leinster, where a desperate 
engagement took place. After a fierce and obstinate fight, Heber, 
with three of his commanders, and a great number of his bravest 
soldiers were slain. This victory put Ileremon in the undivided 
possession of the Monarchy. Such are the fatal consequences that 
arise, frequently, from matters of trivial importance in their own 
abstract nature, but formidable when they become connected with 
the human passions. The shades of a thousand heroes must often 
traverse that undiscovered country, beyond the mortal continent, 
" from whose bourne no traveller returns," to satiate tlie whim of 
royalty, or the importunate cravings of a capricious individual. 

Heremon, after the death of his brother, was solemnly inaugurated 
on the Liagh-Fail, or stone of destiny, by the Druids, as sole Mon- 
arch of Ireland, A. M. 2737. 

Having now no rival on the throne to disconcert his policy or 
interfere with his plans of government, he gave full scope to his 
predilections and wishes ; but though his power was absolute, his 
acts were generally the offspring of conscientious conviction and 
acute discrimination. 

He selected for his ministers men who were eminent for their 
learning and virtues, so that his administration soon healed the 
wounds of civil war, and diffused through the nation those blessings 
which can only emanate from a just and impartial government. It 
might be said that by this wise and prudent procedure he made the 
affections of his people the supporting pillars of his throne. Even 
the Tuatha de Danans and the Fir-bolgs, whom he had conquered 
and reduced to subjection, were so prepossessed by his conciliating 
manners and generous clemency as to become his warm adherents. 
He bestowed the government of Leinster on Criomthan, a legitimate 
descendant of the Belgic dynasty. The two provinces of Munster 
he conferred on Er, Orbha, Fearon, and Feargna, the sons of his 
brother Heber ; and Eadas and Un, the sons of Vighe, two generals 
who signalized themselves by their valor in the late engagement, 
were deputed Viceroys of Connaught ; and Heber, or Eimher, the 
son of his brother Ir, was raised to the station of Governor of Ulster. 
As soon as he had thus organized and consolidated a system of 
legislation and government for the security and safety of his domin- 
ions, he turned his thoughts to the internal improvement of his 
kingdom. He invited architects and sculptors from Greece, and 

* Supposed to be the place now called Bellewstown, County of Meath, about 
five miles S. W. of Drogheda, and is famous for its annual races, and for being 
often selected as the Parade ground of the Irish volunteers in 1782. 



60 

began, A. M. 2738 to build, on an eminence overlooking the favorite 
vale of bis wife, Tea, the magnificent palace of Tara, which for 
more than a thousand years afterwards v/as the regal residence of 
the Monarchs of Ireland. As we will have innumerable occasions 
to speak of the palace of Tara, in the course of our history, we will 
defer a description of its arcliitecture and triennial parliaments until 
we bring down our narrative to the glorious reign of Ollamh 
FoDLA, A. M. 3083, which forms so triumpliant an epoch in our 
annals.* 

But neither the beneficence, nor clemency of Heremon could 
subdue the disaffection of some of his own kindred, who still looked 
upon him with an evil and an envious eye, since he overthrew his 
brother Heber. At the head of this insurgent faction, was Caicer, 
an officer whom the monarch loaded with favors and honors, but 
like some of the infamous marshals who betrayed the great minded 
Napoleon, he had a heart dead to the warm touch of gratitude and 
honor. 

* Heremon built the palace of Tara, in honor of his Queen Tea, from whom it 
derived the name of Tcamore. 

" It was an immense pile of wood, whose workmanship and architectural grandeur 
displayed the highest taste of Grecian art." — Nicholson. 

" In the early ages, Britain had to resort to Ireland for artists, and materials for 
building. The massy colonnades, that adorn the porticoes of Tara's royal palace, 
were composed of Irish oak, and so embellished by carving and gilding as to look 
more magnificent than the most finished peristyles of Grecian sculpture." — 
Campion. 

" The Milesian buildings, though composed of wood, were more elegant, more 
sumptuous, extensive, and more beautiful to the eye than those erected of stone, 
on account of the vai'ious engravings in relievo, paintings, and the fine volutes 
that adorned the columns, sculptured from ponderous trees of oak. On this account 
the workmen and artists of Ireland have been often induced to abandon their own 
country and repair to Britain, where they raised many heathen temples before the 
introduction of Christianity." — Ward. 

" It appears that CoRMAc,the renowned Monarch of Ireland, A. D. 254, rebuilt 
the palace of Tara of marble, on an enlarged scale of grandeur. We may form 
some idea of its magnitude when we are told that it was five hundred feet in 
length, and ninety-five in breadth, and sixty high. It was adorned with thirty 
porticoes. In the middle of the state-room hung a lantern of prodigious pize, 
studded with 300 lamps ; and the lodging apartments were furnished with a hundred 
and fifty beds, and the hospitable tables always spread with delicious fare for 1500 
guests who daily partook of the royal banquet. 

" There were three side-boards covered with golden and silver goblets, and the 
king was waited upon at table by a hundred and fifty of the most distinguished 
champions in the kingdom. 

" The household troops, who were in constant dutj^, consisted of 1050 of the 
flower of the Irish army." — Warner. 

" Our Milesian ancestors built for use, not for ostentation. They built their 
houses of timber, as several nations of Europe have done, and as some do to this 
day. The ancient Irish did not conceive that real magnificence consisted in 
rearing great heaps of stone, artfully disposed, and closely cemented ; or that real 
grandeur received any diminution from the humility of its habitation. They 
brought dignity to the place ; they sought none from it; — and thus judged all the 
Celtic nations, until the Roman conquests changed their manners, and made them 
yield to Roman customs." — O'Connor. 

" Tara was once a stately palace as its ruins slioweth to-day. It stood on a 
lofty hill in Meath, which commands a most goodly prospect. The valleys are 
fertile and beautiful. In this palace the countrie had their meetings of provincial 
kings, senators, and poets." — Holinshed's Chronicle. 



61 

The king incensed to madness, collected bis forces and soon 
destroyed the adherents of the traitor, vvlio fell himself a victim to 
his baseness and ing'ratitude. In the course of a year after the 
suppression of Caicer's insurrection, the arch-Druid, Amhergin, 
reujardless at once of fraternal affection and the injunctions of moral 
oblioation, gave himself up to the influence of jealous passions, and 
ambitious asi)irations, by stirring up a revolt against the king his 
brotlier. Placing himself at the head of his rebel legion be marched 
towards Tara, but the Monarch soon arrested his progress by 
attacking him at Skreen, a small village about three miles from Tara, 
where he routed his troops and slew himself.* Shortly after this 
revolt had been quelled, tlie king was again obliged to resist the 
defection of Un and Vighe, who were also defeated and slain. 

The battle in which these disaffected chiefs were killed, was 
fought in the plains of Comhrar in the County of Meath, where a 
Rath, or mound of earth, to this day, gives "a local habitation and 
a name," to the scene of their fight and sepulture. The arrival of 
the Picts, at this era, is a memorable event in our annals. Of these 
adventurers. King Cormac, in the psalter of Cashel, gives us a 
circumstantial narrative. Bede, the venerable sire of English 
annalists, also, in his ecclesiastical history, notices the descent of 
the Picts on Ireland, which brings a collateral proof to sustain the 
unshaken truths set forth by the regal Prelate of Cashel. 

The Picts, as the royal historian informs us, were engaged in the 
service of Policornus, king of Thrace, an effeminate Prince, who 
formed a design of violating the cl>astity of their general's daughter, 
a virgin of the most exquisite beauty. But her father, and a man 
of the nicest feelings of honor, with a mind sensitively alive to the 
foul disgrace intended his darling child, resolved to save her from 
contamination, even at the risk of his own life. Making known the 
criminal designs of the king, to some of his friends, they felt so 
strong a sympathy in his cause, that they assisted him to despatch 
the libidinous tyrant in his own palace. As soon as this deed was 
accomplished, they fled the country to evade punishment. 

They travelled, we are told, through the dominions of several 
Princes until they reached France, whose king, on hearing the 
cause of their flight from their own country, took them into his 
service, and assigned them lands, on which they built a city, from 
thence called Pictavium, now Poictiers. The French Monarch, 

*■ Skreen, sometimes written Skryne, gives name to a Barony in the County of 
Meatli, and is now environed by as charming and magnificent scenery z,s can be 
found in Ireland. It was bestowed by Henry II. on one of his Knights called 
De Feipo, whose descendants possessed its Lordships until the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth. Adam De Feipo erected a strong castle here in the twelfth century, 
the ruius of which are still standing, as mementos of its past feudal glory. Sir 
J. Ware tells us, that Francis De Feipo erected a large and stately abbey here, 
for Augustin Hermit, early in the reign of Edward III. of England. Some of 
the architective relics of that religious edifice still exist to attest its pristine 
consequence. Skreen, distant about twenty miles from Dublin, can now only 
show the parish church, rebuilt in 1827, and a few humble houses, as indications 
of its former ecclesiastical and feudal importance. On every side of it are lordly 
mansions, and ornamented domains, beautified with all the embellishments that 
landscape gardening can bestow. 



62 

led, no doubt, by curiosity, paid a visit to the young damsel, whose 
captivating charms had the same eiFect on his heart as they produced 
on that of the Thracian king: but the chaste lady took an early 
opportunity of apprising her father of the passion of the French 
Monarch, conjuring him, at the same time, to remove her from the 
influence of that regal contagion which threatened death to her 
virtue. 

As soon as he heard this, he again formed the determination of 
flying from the danger that menaced his daughter's honor. Thus 
resolved, he and his friends seized upon a portion of the French 
fleet, with which they hastily put to sea, and succeeded, after a 
favorable voyage, in gaining the Irish coast. They landed at 
Wexford, but in their course thither lost the beauteous fair one, who 
was the sole cause of all their wanderings and solicitude. Her 
dread of dishonor, and the intense anxiety which perturbated her 
heart, preyed so much upon her spirits as to produce a rapid 
consumption, which hurried her to a watery grave, in the sixteenth 
year of her age. The Ficts being brave soldiers, enlisted themselves 
under the banner of Heremon, with whom, in conjunction with his 
own troops, he attacked a predatory expedition of British invaders, 
who had just landed in his dominions, and succeeded in totally 
defeating them at the battle of Ard-Leamhnachta, in Munster. The 
Picts were emboldened by the services which they rendered Here- 
mon on this occasion, to solicit, confidently, an asylum from him in 
his kingdom. But even at this early age, the Island was so thickly 
inhabited that the monarch, though willing, found himself unable to 
grant their request. The Picts, however, were determined to efiect 
by treachery what they could not obtain by entreaty. They con- 
spired, and entered into a collusion with the disgraced Daranonii, 
which was conducted with the utmost secrecy. But how seldom do 
those brooding schemes of treason, that are not generated by 
virtuous liberty, for the annihilation of despotism, terminate in 
success ? 

That coalition, which is founded on the basis of injustice and 
ingratitude, can never rise to the summit of honorable independence. 
Every member of such an unhallowed conspiracy as this, where 
ingratitude paralyzes courage and mars resolution, wishes to stand 
as high as his compeers in the dishonorable list that registers his 
disgrace ; and if he be disappointed in his expectations, it is justly 
to be apprehended that he will give publicity to those intrigues, and 
machinations, in which he could not be a leader. If he be destitute 
of principle and honor, he will satiate his revenge by the punishment 
of his associates ; and if he be actuated by the generous control of 
virtue and of religion, the ennobling impulse, which these salutary 
feelings awaken in the mind, will precipitate him from the flagrant 
faith of a league, whose secrecy is treason of the blackest dye, 
because the offspring of ingratitude, and convince him ere he 
proceeds too far in the iniquitous career, that to sacrifice the interest 
of a few, for the welfare of the many, is an imperative and sacred 
duty which he owes to his country, and the invoking behest of 
religious obligation. Our historians do not indeed distinctly inform 



63 

us how the intrigues of the Picts were first discovered : certain it 
is, hoAvever, that Ileremon received timely notice of their concerted 
designs to subvert his government, and took, accordingly, the 
promptest measures to crush the unorganized embryo of sedition. 
Baffled in their treasonable projects, and sensible of the danger to 
which they were exposed, the Picts quickly sued for peace in the 
most supplicating manner. Heicmon, whose magnanimity was 
equal to his valor, conquered his just resentment, and yielded to 
their entreaties. At their own urgent request he permitted them to 
go over to North Britain, where they proposed to make a settlement 
which should be ever after subject to the Irish crown. In process of 
time, as we shall relate in its proper place, this colony rose to such a 
warlike magnitude of power as became formidable, not only to the 
Britons, but even to the Romans. To attest the sincerity of their 
intentions, and to afford a guarantee for the faithful observance of their 
engagements, they solicited the monarch for permission to form matri- 
monial alliances with Irish women, pledging themselves that their 
children alone, should be only entitled to succeed to their inheritance. 
To this stipulation the king adhered, and from the period of its 
ratification, to the days of St. Colum-Kille, the Irish Apostle of 
Scotland, the Caledonians were tributary to Ireland. As soon as 
the king's consent was obtained, the temple of Hymen was crowded 
with votaries. All the chiefs and soldiers of the Picts married Irish 
females. Some modern writers are of opinion that the arrival of 
the Picts in Ireland must have been later than the epoch fixed by 
our historians. They imagine that population could not have 
increased to such a degree as to render it necessary to exclude the 
Picts from a settlement in the Island ; but if with our annalists we 
admit that the kingdom was inhabited 300 years after the flood, it 
must have received a great accumulation of inhabitants during a 
space of 790 years, especially when we consider that for a consid- 
erable time after the flood, the age of man was extended to 400 
years, and that Shem the son of Noah, lived upwards of 200 years 
after the birth of Abraham, who was the tenth in descent from the 
builder of the ark. It is not, however, necessary to have recourse 
to the probability of the existence of an immense population, in 
order to account for the policy that dictated the exclusion of the 
Picts from our country. It is only reasonable to suppose that a 
great part of the Island was in those days covered with woods and 
morasses ; and we should not be surprised, if those portions which 
were reclaimed, and cultivated by tillage, probably with much 
difficulty, from the wild growth of ages, should be numerously 
inhabited. 

We are informed that the Brigantes, or Clana-Breogum, also 
obtained permission from Heremon to pass over to Britain, and that 
they settled in Cumberland, or the country of hills and valleys, from 
which they received, in common with the Welsh, the appellation of 
Cumeri. The authority of the venerable Bede bears out, triumph- 
antly, the accuracy of the truth of this emigration. For he asserts 
that the languages of South Britain, were the British and Saxon, irj 



64 

Lis own days, (the seventh century) and that the Irish was the 
common dialect of the Caledonians and Hibernians."* 

Heremon, who eminently uniied tlie skill of the general, the 
bravery of the hero, and the wisdom of the sage, to the profound 
knowledge of the statesman, was removed by death from the scene 
of his glory and usefulness, shortly after the departure of the Picts, 
He left his throne to his three sons, Muibiune, Luighnl, and 
Laishne, of whom we shall speak in the next chapter. Heremon 
possessed, in a high degree, all those virtues that give dignity to a 
monarch, and reflect lustre on the diadem of royalty. Of his talents 
as an accomplished general, we must form a respectable opinion 
from the invariable success that attended his arms. His reign was 
disturbed by the restless and ambitious views of his own commanders, 
whom gratitude should have made his firm and devoted friends. 
His brother Arahergin also made unjust pretensions, in the assertion 
of which he lost his life. He would have probably experienced 
serious disturbance from the Picts, also, if the efficient measures 
which he adopted to thwart their seditious designs on his life and 
kingdom, had been less prudent than his vigilance was active in 
discovering them. His moral character has almost as great a claim 
on our admiration as his military career ; for the splendor of his 
victories were never dimmed by cruelty or revenge. It is true he 
made war upon his brother ; but it was a war to which he was forced 
by necessity and self-defence, it was the dernier expedient resorted 
to for the protection of his life and dominions. 

We have seen that the access of power which he derived from 
victory was again transferred to the family from which it was wrested ; 
for actuated with that exalted spirit of generosity, which so eminently 
distinguished him, he bestowed the principalities of the two Munsters 
on the sons of his brother Heber. This magnanimous spirit, which 
soared above the impure atmosphere of revenge and the crawling 
littleness of petty oppression, seemed so have been transmigrated 
into the souls of his illustrious descendants, the chivalric Hy-Nials, 

* " Mr. Macplierson, (the only Ossian the Scots can now pretend to.) a& great 
a dreamer in etymologies as in history, affirms that Bede, and all our old writers 
on this subject, are mistaken, ana that the Picts spoke not only the same lan- 
guage with the Milesians, but were the same nation, under different appellations. 
But what authority has he for this.' His own, and his own only, against all the 
old accounts we ever had of the Pictic nation ! Eumenius, a writer of the third 
century, and Claudian a writer of the fourth century, make the Picts and Scots, 
(i. e. the ancient Irish) two different and distinct nations ; so do all ancient and 
modern antiquaries, from Nennius. who lived in the ninth century, to Primate Usher, 
who flourished in the seventeenth. But the second-sighted Mr. Macpherson 
deposes against them all on his own bare authority !" — Disskr. on Irish History. 

" The Irish is the only nation in Europe, which is not indebted to the Romans 
for language and letters. Indeed their GAnEiiLic or Celtic dialects approaches 
nearer the orirrinal languao-e of the Patriarchs, Gomer and Japeth, than any other 
spoken. There is no doubt but the Scotch and Welsh borrowed their language 
from the Irish when they were colonies of Ireland." — Lhuid's Origin of 
Languace. 

" The Irish language appears to have been familiar to the Gauls and Carthagi- 
nians, before the Cliristian era. Its idiom is soft and harmonious, so that like the 
Italian it is well adapted to give expression to grief and the gentler passions of 
our nature."' — Cambden. 



65 

or O'Niels, whose noble acliievements and heroic virtues, reflect 
glory on the annals, and renown of our country. 

NiAL, the celebrated hero of the nine hostages,* who compelled 
Scotland to renounce her ancient name of ^^ Albania" and assume 
tiiat of Scota minor, in the fifth century, was the sreat progenitor of 
this family, and the lineal representative descendant of Heremon, 
the son of Mdesius. In due time we shall give a genealogy of the 
northern and southern Hy-Nials. 



CHAPTER VIIT. 



'The three sons of Heremon, Muimhne, Ltjighne, and Laishne, agree to stoay 
the sceptre of sovereignty alternately. The concord and fraternal affection which 
distinguished their reigns. Laishne is opposed by the sons of his uncle, Hehcr : 
the success of their revolt: they gain possession of the throne, frotn lohich they 
are soon expelled by Trial, the son of Heremon. The reign of Irial — his institu- 
tions and victories : — his successor, Eithrial, icho is dethroned. Conmaol, the 
son of Heber ascends the throne, of lohich he is in his turn dispossessed by 
TiGHERNMAS, of the Hcrcmonian line. The government of this Prince; his 
sumptuary laics, and regulations for the distinction of colour ; his encouragement 
of arts and manufactures ; his adoration of an idol. The origin and progress of 
the Irish Druids. A. M. 2750. 

The three sons of Heremon, Muimhne, Luighne, and Laishne, 
religiously obeying the dying injunctions of their royal father, and 
profiting by their experience of the disaster which civil dissension 
brouglit upon their house, unanimously agreed before their brother 
Irial, the arch-druid and prophet, to sway the sovereign authority 
successively a year each. This compact being solemnly confirmed 
and ratified, SIuimhne, the eldest brother, was invested with the 
royal insignia, and on the termination of his year, his next brother, 
Luighne, ascended the throne. During his year of administration, 
Muimhne died at his country palace, in Connaught, an event which 
was deeply lamented by his brothers, who loved and esteemed him 
for his valor, and the many amiable qualities that adorned his mind. 

As soon as the period of Laishne's turn to assume the preroga- 
tives and duties of royalty arrived, he mounted the throne ; but 
scarce had the ceremonies of his inauguration been ended, than his 
cousins, the sons of Heber, revolted, and raising their insurrection- 
ary standard, it was quickly joined by numerous adherents, at 
whose head the disaffected chiefs marched to the very gates of the 
royal palace. 

The monarch and his brother made formidable preparations to 
resist the assault of rebellion. An engagement soon ensued at Ard- 
Ladhran, in the county of Wexford, which ended in the death of 

^ " He was called the " hero of the nine hostages," because he compelled nine 
nations to send him hostages. No Monarch carried the glory of the Irish arms 
farther than Nial. He drove the Romans out of Caledonia, and pursued them to 
the banks of the Loire in Gaul." — Hutchinson. 

9 



66 

the monarch and his brother, as well as in the discomfiture of their 
army. The rays of fortune once more illuminated the clouded 
prospects of the house of Heber; but how seldom is the sunshine of 
that prosperity which is gained by unjust conquest, unobscured by 
the mists of vicissitude. The power which is wrested by ambition's 
physical force, is generally of an instable and precarious tenure. 
The victors enjoyed the kingdom but one year, or, according to 
some authorities, only three months, when they were attacked and 
defeated by Irial, the prophet who was appointed high priest by his 
father, Heremon, on the death of the arch-druid Ambergin. Our 
annals say nothing particular of the short and unfortunate reign of 
the sons of Heber. The victorious prophet mounted the throne by 
the general consent of the Irish people, who expected much from 
the prudence, wisdom and clemency, which were the distinguishing 
traits of his character. His administration proved that the national 
hopes were well founded. The abuses which corrupted the govern- 
ment of his predecessors, were removed by the salutary reform that 
he introduced ; and justice and impartiality swayed his councils, 
and produced in consequence the happiest results. His reign shed 
lustre on the nation. He raised several stately edifices, both mili- 
tary and religious, extended the commerce, and materially improved 
the agriculture of the country. After he had crushed internal sedi- 
tion, he was subsequently obliged to repel the attack of a numerous 
band of African invaders, who made a descent upon the southern 
coast. In his first battle with the invading foe, at Teanmhuighe* 
in Fingall, in the county of Dublin, he totally defeated them, and 
killed with his own hand their chief commander, Eeichtglie. After 
a glorious reign of ten years, he died, and was succeeded by his 
son EiTHRiAL, A. M. 2765. This young prince inherited the genius, 
and imbibed the principles of his royal father, whose djing entreaties, 
he religiously observed as the rules of his conduct and government. 
Our historians characterize him as a sage and a hero. Having no 
domestic, or foreign enemy to annoy him, he devoted the beginning 
of his reign to the cultivation of letters and the arts. Under his 
paternal government, the benign blessings of peace diff"used happi- 
ness and prosperity through Ireland. Eithrial wrote the history 
of his ancestors, from the great Phenius down to his own days. 
According to Colgan and Molloy, this work of our royal historian 
existed in the archives of Tara, until St. Patrick, in the too ardent 
glow of his Christian zeal, committed it to the flames with the rest of 
our antique works. 

O'Halloran conjectures that this prince sent an Hyperborean 
Scythian embassy, at the head of which was Albaris, to Athens : 
" That such an embassy," says our Livy, " arrived in Greece, 
cannot be doubted. It was a wise measure, to renew friendship, 

* Now called Skerries, a little fishing town, on the sea coast, in the barony 
of Balruddery, County of Dublin, at the distance of 17 miles, N. E. of the metropo- 
lis. The village itself is inconsiderable; but it deserves some importance from its 
harbor, and the beauty and grandeur of the domains in its vicinity. There is not 
much historic association connected with Skerries, exceptino- the invasion men- 
tioned in the text, and the landing of Sir Henry Sydney, Queen Elizabeth's Lord 
Deputy of Ireland, at this port, on the 12th September, 1575. 



67 

extend commerce, and the glory of his people, not only there, but 
in Asia ; and this will explain why the memory of these transactions 
were preserved even in Egypt, in the days of Solon."* Although 
Eithrial might be emphatically pronounced the father of his people ; 
but still, as virtue and generosity cannot avert the malice of treason, 
his cousin Conmaol, the youngest son of Heber, formed a conspira- 
cy against this good king, by which he lost his crown and life, in 
the twentieth year of his reign, in the battle of Rahonen, in Leinster. 

The fallen monarch having no issue, his conqueror found no im- 
pediments obstructing his way to the throne, and victory threw a 
lustre over the darkness of his ingratitude. He was solemnly in- 
augurated on the stone of destiny, by a full convocation of the Druids 
and the states of the kingdom. The Psalter of Cashel represents 
him in the most brilliant light of eulogium. The royal historian 
attributes to him all those virtues that give additional splendor to 
regal station. " He it was," says the venerable Cormac, " that 
killed with his own hand Eithrial, the son of Irial, the prophet, in 
revenge for the blood of his father. He it was that fought and won 
forty-five battles against the posterity of Heremon, he it was w bom 
victory followed as his shadow, and whose arras were always crown- 
ed with glory and conquest." We have no doubt but he was brave 
and intrepid, for he quelled several insurrections, vanquished the 
Erneans and Martineans, the remains of the ancient Beiges, in seve- 
ral engagements ; until at length his hour coming, he fell by the 
sword of Heber, in the battle of Aonach Macha, in Meath, after a 
reign of thirty years. "His burial place," says O'Halloran, " yet 
goes by the name of Feai'i- Conmaol,^' or the grave of the " Prince 
of Chiefs." 

His death again gave the reins of government into the hands of 
the Heremonian dynasty. Tighernmas, the son of Follam, the son 
of Eithrial, the son of Irial, the prophet, the son of Heremon, was 
saluted supreme monarch. As a warrior and a statesman, he early 
gave decisive proofs of his abilities. By his valor in the field, he 
defeated the insurrectionary armies of the Heberians in twenty- 
seven pitched battles ; and by his liberal and sagacious policy in the 
cabinet, he at once endeared himself to his friends, and extorted the 
respect of his enemies. He attained a higher eminence of popular- 
ity than any of his predecessors since the reign of Heremon. 
Finding himself thus too exalted to be disturbed by the intrigues of 
the partizans of the Heberian family, he devoted his whole attention 
to the promotion of national happiness. Literature, arts, and agri- 
culture, flourished under his fostering auspices, and a new spirit 
seemed to have animated the kingdom, while the genius of the 
sovereign manifested itself in the general prosperity which prevailed. 

* We should give some degree of belief and credit to the investigations of our 
antiquarians, which prove, that Jleria and Ogygia were given in common to 
Egypt and Ireland ; and to that other most ancient and universally allowed tradi- 
tion of our historians, of the marriage of Scota, the daughter of Pharaoh, with a 
predecessor of the Scots ; which evidently convinces us, that there had been a 
commerce, and an alliance of a very ancient date, carried on, and mutually main- 
tained between the Egyptians and our Iberian ancestors. — O'Flaherty. 



68 

The reign of this monarch is very much celebrated by our bards and 
historians, as the code of laws that were enacted in it have formed 
a conspicuous epoch of Irish history. His ordinances relative to 
THE COLOURS of the gjarraents worn by princes, nobles, bards, and 
peasants, deserve particular iUustration from the bi;<torian. 

By this legislative enactment, which our annalists call the law 
OF COLOURS,* princes of the blood royal were allowed to have seven 

* This law did more towards gaining esteem and respect than all the golden 
trappings of the East, and yet cosl; nothing. It produced a noble ennulation am.ong 
men of letters, who on approving themselves skilled in the FUcac/it, i. e. the arts 
and sciences of the land, received the vesture of six colours. 

The dress of the ancient Scots (tlie Irish) was plain as their manners. The 
great were apparelled in much the same manner as the lower ranks, allowing only 
for the fineness of the texture, and the variety, or rather number, of the colours. 

The fashion of this vesture was so admirably adapted to the manners of a martial 
nation, that it received very little change through all ages. It helped to display 
action, and exhibited the actor in the most advantageous manner. It bears a 
perfect resemblance to the costume of the ancient Greeks. One piece covered 
the legs and thighs of the wearer closely. The Braccon, or vest, was fastened 
with golden clasps, and so conveniently contrived, as to cover the breast better 
than any modern garment, while the close sleeves of a flowing mantle gave the 
soldier all the advantages he could require in the use of arms. Over the whole, 
they wore a Falfung, or wide cloak, which covered them from the sun and rain in 
thne of inaction, as in time of war it served them for a bed to repose on in their 
field tents. I have seen a representation of these dresses, in the carving on the 
king of Connaught's (Feidlim O'Connor) tomb, in the abbey of Roscommon ; and 
I aui certain that the remains of this species of dress are still preserved in the 
highlands of Scotland." — O'Connor. 

" Though the garb of the ancient Irish v/as simple in its fashion, yet the mate- 
rials of which it was composed were of the most costly quality. Their kings wore 
mantles of an immense size, generally nine ells of yellow and purple silk, which 
were studded with gems and precious stones. Their helmets, shields, and ensign 
stafEs, were of pure gold, as the country abounded with that precious metal." — 
Vallancey. 

" The military dress of the ancient Irish was fashioned after the vesture of the 
Grecian heroes,' and perfectly corresponded with the drapery which we see in 
the pictures of the old masters." — Vide Scottish Jirclioiologia, vol. ix. 

" The Irish kings, in battle, wore a golden crown on their heads, and a star of 
amethyst on their breasts; as it was deemed inglorious to conceal their rank in a 
garb unbecoming their high stations." — Pinkerton's Inquiry into the Histoj-y of 
Scotland. 

'• In the pagan ages, the Irish soldiers never made use of coats of mail ; the 
shield alone was all their defensive armor for the body ; their chief offensive 
weapons were the sword, javelin, and arrow. Their infantry, after the Christian 
era, were of two orders, heavy and light-armed : the first were called GaUoglachs , 
(i. c. heavy armed soldiers) armed with a highly burnished helmet and coat of 
mail, bound with iron rings. They were also girded with long swords, and occa- 
sionally, they fought with a most keen battle-axe. Their light-armed infantry 
(called Keherns) fought with bearded javelins and short daggers." — Dissert, on 
Irish History. 

■" The Irish soldiers looketh very warlike, and their dress resembleth the ancient 
Grecian vesture. They are tall and masculine, with fierce visages ; they have 
three kinds of weapons in use ; short bright lances, two javelins, and broad battle- 
axes, extremely well-tempered. Against the force of these Vv-eapons, neither 
helmet nor cuirass is sutEcient defence. I saw the Irish king's body guard in 
Dnhline, and they resembleth a band of Giants, inasmuch as their stature and 
strength much surpasseth our soldiers." — Cambrensis. 

" O'Neil's guards which the Irish call GaUoglachs, are certainly in appearance 
equal to the pictured representation of Ceesar's favorite legion, and their dress is 
superb and imposing." — Sir Philip Sidncijs letter to Qveen Elizabeth. 

" The Irish soldiers are men of great stature, of more than ordinary strcnglh of 



69 

colours in their garments ; the monarch was always known by his 
mantle of yellow and purple, for green was not in those days the 
national colour ; the vesture of the druids, ollamhs, bards, and artists, 
was variegated by six dies ; that of the nobility and knights by five ; 
of bcatachs, or keepers of open houses, by four; of commanders of 
battalions, three ; of private gentlemen, two ; and of peasantry and 
soldiers, one. The provisions of these laws were observed, for ages, 
with the most inviolable sacredness and religions attention. "This 
custom of making,"' says O'Halloran, " various colors in clothes 
honorable, we find to be extremely ancient. Thus, we read in 
Genesis that ' Jacob loved Joseph more than all his children, because 
he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors.^ 
This same law we find established in China, from the most remote 
antiquity." 

Indeed, v/e have the authority of foreign historians to say, that 
the ancient Irish carried the art of dyeing to Tyrian perfection •, 
and their colours were as unfading as they were vivid and durable. 
These colours, we are told by Bishop Nicholson, were all of vegeta- 
ble production. In Irish poetry, red, purple, and crimson robes are 
frequently mentioned; but yellow was the royal colour, and the 
livery of honour and pre-eminence. In consequence, the silks, stuiFs, 
and linens of this die were brilliant in the extreme. The mate- 
rials used in the composition of this colour were extracted from a 
plant well known in Ireland, called the JJuidh-more, or great yellow, 
v/hich is still an article of commerce. This imprinted a dye bright 
and lasting, which resisted at once the action of rain and sun-beams. 
The purple and crimson were obtained from a species of moss 
growing on rocks and stones in different parts of the kingdom, de- 
nominated by Nicholson, in his natural history, the " Lichenoides 
Saxatile, tinctorium foliis purpitreis, and Muscus tinctorius crustae, 
modo petris admascens of Ray," called by our Irish botanists, Corcair 
and Arccll. The crimson was extracted from the corcair or finer 
kind, resembling a thin white scurf, which grows on sea-side rocks 
in every part of Ireland. Persons of rank dyed their garments in 
this eft\ision, and Ware says, that the secret of imparting such a 
beautiful crimson colour, in its original lustre was not known in his days 
to any person in Ireland. Great quantities of this moss are gathered 
in the county of Kerry, and sold to the dyers in London and Dublin, 
who prefer it to the orchil imported from the Canaries and Azores. 
The ancient Irish also produced from it and a mixture of a plant 
called the " ladies'' bed-straw," or the Irish Croiv lean, a beautiful 
gold, orange, and scarlet colour. The black colour, which distin- 
guished the apparel of the peasantry, Avas composed of the juice of 
bog mire and white v/ater lily, and the dye was so excellent and 

limb, powerful swordsmen, but at the same time altogether sanguinary to us, 
{Saxons,) and by no means inclined to give quarter. Their weapons are one foot 
in length, resembling double-edged hatchets, almost sharper than razors, fixed to 
shafts of more than ordinary length, with which, when they strike, they inflict a 
dreadful wound. Before any one is admitted into O'Neil's corps, he swears, in 
the most solemn manner, that he will never flinch, or turn his back when he 
comes into action." — Stanihurst, de Reb. Hihern. p. 41, 42. 



70 

glossy, that neither time nor weather could tarnish it as long as a 
j)iece of the cloth remained. There is an herb grows on the rocks 
of Magilligan, in the county of Derry, which, when properly 
prepared, produces the finest peach-blossom colour. In a word, it 
appears that our ancestors could produce all colours, except blue, 
from our native growth.* According to Nicholson, the ancient 
Irish ladies dyed linen of a .beautiful bright crimson colour, which 
they made by a preparation of cochleae, a species of shell-fish that 
abounds on the coasts of Wicklow, Dublin, and Wexford. The 
extract taken from this shell-fish, when applied to the linen, produc- 
ed first a fine sea-green, then an azure blue, afterwards a deep 
purple-red, and all in a few hours, when exposed to the sun. But 
after washing the cloth in hot water, and soap, the purple became 
an exquisite and brilliant crimson, which nothing could change. 
" The fish was," says Nicholson, in his natural history of Ireland, 
" a species of perriwinkles, which is still used in dyeing by the 
people of Wexford and Wicklow. The ancient Ii'ish are said to 
have dyed much of this colour, which must have destroyed great 
quantities of the fish, as not above six or seven drops of liquid can be 
obtained from each winkle, and that by a difficult process : the shell 
is not to be broken, the vein lying transversely in a furrow next the 
head is to be pierced by a bodkin, when a ^ew drops of white milky 
liquor issues. The Tyrian die, so much celebrated by antiquity, is 
thought to have been the production of a similar species of muscles." 
But it is time to return from our digression, and resume the thread 
of our narrative. 

The monarch caused several mines to be opened, and their pro- 
duce to be wrought by skilful artists. t Some goblets have been found 
in the Bog of Allen, which were made in the reign of Tighernmas, 
and their sculptured devices and beautiful workmanship, afford a 
proof of the proficiency of the ancient Irish in the fine arts. It is 
to this sovereign our historians also impute the invention of vats, for 
dying purple, yellow, and green. Tighernmas, however, contrary 

* The Irish have herbs for diet, for counteracting witchcraft, for physic, for 
dyeing, (an art in which they once excelled all Europe,) and almost for all uses." — 
Vide Innis's letter to the Bishop of DcTry , published in the Transac. of the Gcelic 
Society, Edinburgh, 1727. 

t The mountains of Ireland are full of mines and minerals. Gold and silver 
must have been very plenty in this country in ancient times, as all the knights 
wore golden helmets and chains, and a shield of the same precious metal. A bit 
of a bridle, of solid gold, of ten ounces, which was found in digging in some 
grounds, was sent as a present to Charles I. by the Earl of Strafford. 

The same nobleman sent also an ingot of silver to the royal mint, from the 
mines of the county of Tipperary, which weighed three hundred ounces ; and in 
his letter to the Secretary of State, he says, " that the lead mines in Munster were 
so rich, that every load of lead had in it forty pounds of fine silver." There are 
several considerable colleries in many parts of the kingdom, probably enough to 
supply all Europe with coals; but for want of government encouragement, they 
are neglected. Besides these, there are numerous iron mines and lead mines in 
the island. There is one lead mine, in the county of Antrim, so rich, that from 
every thirty pounds of lead one of silver is yielded. In fine, nature designed 
Ireland for the operations of art and agriculture; and, though she is unfortunately 
poor, she has exhaustless wealth in her own bosom, but under the hermetic seal 
of English policy. — Warner. 



71 

to the advice and supplication of tlie Druids, introduced a species 
of worship which they pronounced idolatrous. The Druids, regard- 
less of his power, every where denounced his heresy, and predicted 
the venjj;eai)ce of the true national deities, the sun, moon, and stars, 
against the devoted monarch. 

The king- felt indignant, but durst not punisli men who were 
revered as the ministers of Heaven, To show, however, his con- 
tempt of their idle threats, he erected a famous idle at Breffeny, in 
the county of Leitrim, called Crom-Cruadli, "the same god," says 
Dr. Keating, " that Zoroaster adored in Greece." On the eve of 
Samlndn, or INovember, which was the time appropriated to the 
worship of the moon, the king, no longer acknowledging the bright 
rays of that deity, "as light from Heaven," with his family, nobles, 
and soldiers, repaired to the plain of Breffeny, for the purpose of 
offering divine honors to his f^lse God.* The Druids taking their 
station on a neighbouring hill, witnessed the heretical ceremony with 
horror and indignation. But scarcely had the monarch knelt 
before the idol, scarcely had the flames ascended from tlie burnt 
offerings, when the most awful thunder began to roar, and in another 
moment the dreadful lightning annihilated the idol, and made burned 
victims of Tighernmas and all his attendants. When the Druids 
saw the destruction with which divine wrath swept away idolatry, 
they set up a shout of exultation. We give this ludicrous fiction as 
we find it, in all our ancient histories, as an amusing fable foisted 
by the pious fraud of the Druids into our annals. The popular tradi- 
tion of Leitrim still points out the scene of this invented catastrophe, 
and gives it the name of Bleagh-sleachta, or the valley of worship. 
Before the reign of this victim of divine vengeance, the sun, moon, 
and stars, were the only objects of religious adoration ; objects 
which, though virtually as unworthy of human homage as the shape- 
Jess matter that is moulded into form by the art of man, still raise 
the mind beyond the narrow limits of terrestrial existence, and 
equally impress us with the solemnity of religion, and the awful 
sublimity of boundless and infinite creation. 

Tighernmas according to Keating and O'Halloran, who follow the 
authority of the annalist, Giolla Caomkain, who flourished in the 
tenth century, reigned fifty years. 

Before we close this chapter, we will endeavour to reflect some 
light of investigation on the darkness that conceals the origin of one 
of the most noted religious orders of antiquity, we mean the Druids. 
The laudability of the atteaipt will excuse its defects. Let us take 
a retrospective view of the first ages of the world, and explore the 
rude policy of their incipient designs, and we shall often behold grand, 
strange, and unexpected events arise from the simplest causes; we 
shall behold the moral imitate the physical world ; and we shall 

* Breffeny, or the country of small hills, formei-ly comprehended the counties 
of Leitrim and Cavan, and a district of Longford, and was owned by the regal 
septs, O'Rourke, O'Reilly, O'FarrelljO'Brady, O'Curry, O'Sheridan, M'Kernan, 
and M'Gaurall, until the reign of the English Messalina, Elizabeth, who basely 
despoiled them of their patromonial estates. We will have occasion again to say 
more of Breffeny. 



frequently return from the intellectual pursuit, if not enriched and 
enlightened with all the acquisition of knowledge that inquiry can 
impart, at least edified and blessed with all the pleasure which imag- 
ination can bestow. In countries covered with eternal forests, as 
we must suppose the greater portion of the earth to have been 
shortly after the flood, the first Planters would naturally settle in 
those parts that were more open, and best adapted for agriculture. 
Among these first planters there might be found a few, who smitten 
with sacred love of meditation and the silence of the shades, would 
naturally shun the vulgar commerce of mankind and retire among 
the sombre oaks, to commune with the genius of solitude ; and study 
the philosophy of religion in the impressive characters of nature. 
Blessed with that wisdom, with which contemplation invests the 
mind, and which indeed, in the bustle of public life is seldom to be 
found, Rara avis in terris, they would naturally fix their habitation, 
when they had imbibed the first principles of morality and natural 
religon. Here the beacon of silence would cast a steady radiance 
on their understandings, while free from the tempest of the passions. 
Here they would be consulted by those who had less experience in 
the duties imposed upon humanity, by the light of reason, and the 
admonitions of that interior monitor, which directs all those who are 
attentive to its counsels as well in the palace, as in the cottage; as 
well in the bustle of society, as in the privacy of retirement ; as well 
amid the turbulent and ungovernable commotions of a seditious 
populace, as in the dreary and sequestered solitudes of the Arabian 
wild. Such men would attract attention and command respect ; 
such men would surely be consulted in matters of state, and public 
interest, and on all extraordinary occasions ; nor would thev long 
stand in need of disciples and followers to assist them in tiie dis- 
charge of the various and important duties imposed upon them, by 
their superior knowledge, and endowments. Consequently these 
disciples would draw wisdom from the fount of instruction and with 
minds and passions elevated by philosophy to the summit of reason, 
they would soon become a distinct order of men, and be at the head 
of all affairs both in church and state. Thus they would be philo- 
sophers by Profession — Priests by the veneration paid to them — 
Judges, by the choice of the people — Poets, from the warm and 
pathetic feelings which are inspired by the contem[)lation of nature — 
and Historians from their learning, and the active part they would be 
obliged to take in the affairs of state. To secure, however, that 
veneration and esteem which they would wish to procure by the 
sanctity of their lives, the brilliancy of their attainments, and their iso- 
lated retreat from the world, they would still avoid a general intercourse 
with the people ; they should do so because that a conformity of 
proceding would be necessary to preserve that respect which origi- 
nated in the belief of their superior piety and qualifications, while 
aware that the character should be sustained to the last, without 
being lessened by inconsistency ; and experience itself would soon 
inform them that a communion with the world would speedily bring 
them into contempt. That such an order of men would arise from 
such circumstances, is indeed, more than probable ; and will, we 



73 

doubt not, appear with new evidence to the cautious reader the 
more he examines it. 

If such was the origin, such certainly was the order of the ancient 
Druids. They were in Ireland from the days of Heremon, to the 
introduction of Christianity. Priests, Judges, Philosophers, Poets, 
and Historians, and their manner of hfe exactly corresponds to the 
supposition we have made. 

The Irish arcli-Druid had great power and authority, and his 
person was sacred and inviolable. He was chief of the literati, and 
high pontiff of religion. As this was the next station to the sovereign 
himself, an eminent place of the most important trust and responsi- 
bility, it was uniformly conferred on a branch of the royal tree, as 
this history will show. This was also the custom, as Ledwich tells 
us, in Scythia and Tyre. 

Pliny informs us that their places of worship were surrounded by 
groves of oak, and that they were not permitted to sacrifice out of 
them. He also tells us that the oak was held in such reverence by 
the Roman Druids, that it was supposed to be sacred to the Deity. 
We likewise read in Ovid, that all the Druids assembled at the cut- 
ting of the Misletoe, and commenced the performance of their myste- 
ries.* Julius Csesar, in his commentaries, gives us a view of the 
Druids in Gaul, in his days, whom he represents secluded in the dark 
recesses of oak forests, cultivating the abstrusest sciences, and 
penetrating the sublimest mysteries of nature, and anticipating the 
discoveries of Pythagoras, and Newton, It is manifest, that woods 
and forests, were intimately interwoven in their system of religion. 
We have already stated that the first name of Ireland, which stands 
upon record, was, " Inis na Bhfiodhbhuidhe" or the woody Island. 
The Irish Druid worshipped one supreme Being, not in temples as 
the Greeks and Romans, but in Groves consecrated to him. They 
believed in a future state of rewards and punishments, which should 
be regulated by the Deity according to their conduct in this life. 

* The Druids of Gaul, according to Pliny, held nothing so sacred as the Misle- 
toe, and the trees upon which it grew. They selected groves of this wood for 
religious purposes ; nor did they perform any sacred office without garlands of its 
leaves, from whence they derived their name of Druids. This was done on the 
sixth day of the moon ; a day so much esteemed by them, that they have made 
their months and ages (which consisted of about thirty years) to take their begin- 
ning from it. The Misletoe when found was collected with great ceremony. 
Having prepared their feasts and sacrifices under the oak, two white bulls were 
tied to it. A Priest clad in white robes ascended the tree, and cut off the Misletoe, 
and let it fall into a white garment which another Druid spread to receive it. 
They then sacrificed their victims. 

The Misletoe, continues Pliny, administered as a potion, is believed to have a 
charm for preserving female chastity, and for counteracting the effects of poison. 

" The Gaulish Druids had their Priestesses and Prophetesses, and some of those 
females were in high repute among the Gauls, and bore great sv.^ay in their govern- 
ment. If the Druids tried female virtue by ordeal, the Jews too had the " waters 
of jealousy,'' to assure them of the fidelity or infidelity of their wives." — Universal 
Hist. 

'■'• The Irish Druids were, according to Bede, and other authorities, much more 
learned than those of Gaul, as the former were, as far as I can gather from histor- 
ical evidence, well versed not only in the sciences, but in the philosophy and litera- 
ture of Egypt and Greece." — Vide Mallet's JVorthern Antiquities. 
10 



74 

They always raised their iraraense ahars of stone, on the summit 
of high hills, on which they generally offered their bloody and 
expiatory sacrifices. 

They built many stupendous temples, which they used as colleges 
for the initiation and instruction of their novices, but not as places 
of worship, as they thought, with the ancient Persians, that it was 
absurd and unworthy the Author of all being and places, to make 
sacrificial oblations to him within walls raised by human hands, or 
under any roof except the dome of Heaven. The god Bel or Belus 
they worshipped by consecrated fires, which they lit on every first 
of May, on the highest hills in the Island. On the celebration of 
this holy ceremony, called in Irish, Bel tinne, or the fire of Belus, 
every other fire in the kingdom was extinguished, and, after the 
solemnities were over, the people were obliged to apply to the Druids 
for consecrated fire to light their household hearths. 

That the sway of the Druids, and the despotic power which they 
exercised over'the superstitious fears of the Heathen Irish were det- 
rimental to the liberties and happiness of the people must be admit- 
ted. Such was the preponderance of this power, that several of 
our raonarchs sunk under it. 

Whenever any one was bold enough to refuse submission to their 
decisions, either in civil or religious matters, he was seized and im- 
mediately immolated as a victim on their altar. In the course of 
this history, we will adduce instances of their having dethroned 
kings, and of even putting an immediate stop to an engagement, 
when both armies were furiously rushing to the onset. They were 
regarded as the vicegerents of Heaven, and looked upon, in conse- 
quence, as the dernier appeal in all cases ; and their terrible 
excommunication, a punishment which was considered by the ancient 
Irish as tlie most infamous and degrading, was the lot of those unfor- 
tunate recusants, that disobeyed the mandates of the tyrannic 
theocracy. " The Irish Druids not only presided," says Warner, 
" at their religious rites, but no public transaction passed without 
their approbation ; nor was the greatest malefactor put to death 
without their consent. They were not only the most noble and 
considerable people of their country, to whose care was committed 
the education of their youth and the Kings and Princes children, 
but it was a notion prevalent in those times, that they had a commu- 
nication with Heaven by way of divination, soothsaying and the 
magic art." The Irish Druids were certainly a body of men whose 
erudition embraced the widest scope of literature and the arts; and 
St. Patrick himself bears an honorable testimony to their proficiency 
in the classic languages, and their profound knowledge of metaphy- 
sical philosophy. Borlase, who was no friend of our country, 
candidly acknowledges that the British and Welsh Druids were only 
the disciples of the Irish Pontiffs whom they obeyed as the Metro- 
politans of the druidical order. We hope, we shall, in the progress 
of this history, be able to advance satisfactory and conclusive argu- 
ments in support of the opinion, that Ireland was not only the chief 
seat, but the very fountain, whence emanated the stream of Euro- 
pean Druidism. In the next chapter we will give a detail of the 



75 



principles, form of worship, and ritual of the pagan religion of the 
ancient Irish. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Religion and form of icorship of the Pagan Irish. — The reigns of Eochaidh, 
Ceannna, and Sobhairce, Eochaidh II. — Fiachadh, Eochaidh III. j3ongus, Eadhna, 
Rotheachta, Seadhna, Fiachadh II. Muinheamhoin, and Mdergoid. — Ollamh 
Fodhla, his glorious reign, institutions, and legislative ordinances : and the 
National Assembly at Tara. 

A. M. 2865. The Cehic religion, of the ancient Irish, was in 
many respects similar to that of the Jewish Patriarchs. They 
worshipped one Supreme Being, in the sacred groves, consecrated 
to him : they offered victims to him, and other sacrifices of expia- 
tion. Their ritual was remarkable for its awful simplicity. They 
worshipped the Sun by the name of Bel, and the Moon, which they 
placed next to the Sun, in reverence for its attributes and nocturnal 
glory. The class of Druids, who offered the lunar sacrifices, were 
called Samnothei ; they inculcated the doctrine of transmigration, and 
maintained that the soul must be purified in different bodies, before 
it could enter the celestial mansions of happiness. The religious 
festival of the Moon was celebrated on the first of November. The 
temple of the Moon was, we are told, an imrhense pile, whose ruins 
are still to be seen at Talchta, in the County of Meath. Here, on 
every eve of November, the votaries of Cynthia assembled in multi- 
tudes, to offer adoration, and receive tire consecrated fire of SamJiui7i, 
or the Moon, from the Druids ; for it was deemed an act of enormous 
impiety to kindle the winter hearths from any other, than the divine 
flame of the holy altars of Samhuin. The tax levied from every 
house for the Moon-fire brought immense revenues to the Druids. — 
The Gauls and Britons derived, according to Bede, the principles 
of their theology from the Irish Druids.* The learned Charles 
O'Connor says, " Our ancestors worshipped Bel, or Beleus as God 
of the sun, or fire,f and so did the ancient fire-worshippers of Persia, 

* " The ancient mode of worship adopted by the Celtic and Scythian nations of 
Europe, seems evidently to have originated in Ireland. This much, at least, is cer- 
tain, that the religion of the Gauls, as delivered by Caesar, an indisputable authority, 
and such accounts as other writers, Greek and Roman, have furnished to us, are 
in the fullest manner elucidated and confirmed by Irish history." — O'Halloran, 

" The religion of the Gauls was founded on the same theological principles, as 
those practised in the ritual of the heathen Irish. What the original Celtic religion 
was, we learn not only from Irish history ; but from the concurrent testimony of 
foreign authors also, that it was the same with that of the old patriarchs. They 
worshipped one Supreme Being, not in temples, but in groves of oak, which being 
open at the top and sides, were, in their opinion, more acceptable to the divine and 
unconfined being, whom they adored. They believed in a future state of rewards 
and punishments, suitable to their behaviour in this life." — Warner. 

t " Mithras, the sun, which was worshipped by the idolatrous Persians ; — that 
word, however, signifies fire in the literal sense. Miteras is certainly called fire 



76 

by the name o^ Mithras : and Apollo, I take to be only a corruption 
of Beleus, beinoj among the Greeks and Homans the God of the sun, 
and consequently one of their deities borrowed from the old Celts." 
This hypothesis strengthens the historical supports of our country 
being the hyperborean Isle of the ancients.* 

In our last chapter, Ave narrated the fatal circumstance that grew 
out of the idolatry of TiciiERNMAs and deprived him of life, and 
kingdom. Some writers, among whom are the acute O'Flaherty, 
and the learned Lynch, contend, that there was an interregnum of 
seven years, after the death of this Prince. We, however, on the 
authority of Dr. Keating, and O'Halloran dissent from an opinion, 
which is not sustained by a concurrence of historical evidence. 
Neither the regal list of Giolla Caomhain, the psalter of Cashel, nor 
the Bruodin chronicle, makes any allusion to such a chasm in our 
sovereign supremacy. An interregnum of seven years, would be in- 
consistent with the genius of the Milesian constitution. We do not 
think it probable, that a crown for which there were so many rival 
candidates, and which even the lawful monarch could, often, only 
retain by force of arms, would remain in obeyance, for such a period, 
without exciting the ambition, or tempting the struggles of the pro- 
vincial kings. In some instances, indeed, the elected king is not 
acknowledged as supreme monarch, or Ard Righ, (supreme King) 
by our annalists, who bestowed on them the appellation of Gafra 
Sabrach, or monarchs not legally chosen by general consent. 
"When we reflect," says O'Halloran, "on the nature of the succes- 

by the Scythians, from whom the Irish are descended, as well as the Persians. 
The similarity of language and ancient mode of worship of the Persians and Irish 
confirm, in some degree, the pretensions of the latter to an eastern origin." — 
Toland's Hist, of the Druids. 

" We may remark here by tha way, that the Scots (as the Irish were originally 
called) in the extremity of the west, had descended fron the same Scythian ances- 
tors with the Persians, in almost the extremities of the east, as is demonstrable not 
only from similitude of theology, but of language also, the strongest evidence for 
the origin of any nation; thus Caors, fire, is Cyr in Persian. Cios, a stipend or 
tribute, is Gas or gaz in Persian " — Boxhornibs. 

* " The Scots brought this religion from Spain, before it received any consider- 
able alterations from the intercourses with the T3^rians, Phoenicians and other 
nations, who settled in that country. It is without dispute, from the glory and 
renown which the heathen ministers of this religion gained throughout all Europe, 
that the name of "Ierne," or sacred Isle, was given to Ireland." — Disser. on 
Irish Hist, page 98. 

" Diodorus Seculus has preserved an account out of Hecateus, a very ancient 
author of a northern Island, little less than Sicily, situated over against the Celtae, 
and inhabited by those whom the Greeks called Hyperboreans. '' It is," says he, 
" fruitful, pleasant and dedicated to Apollo. That God, for the space of nineteen 
years, used to come and converse with them, and, which is more remarkable, they 
could, as if they had the use of Telescopes, show the moon very near them. They 
had a large grove, and temple of a round form to which llie Priests frequently 
resorted with their harps to chaunt the praises of Apollo, their great deity." 
" The situation of the Island, opposite to the Celtae, who were the iiihabitants of 
Britain, and Gallia; — its being compared with Sicily in size ; — its being dedicated 
to Apollo, i. e. the sun, which planet the Irish certainly worshipped ; the descrip- 
tion of their temples, which were always round ; and the mention of their harps ; 
are all so many concurring circumstances which seem more than probable, that 
this could be no other country than Ireland."— 7 7rfc Dr. Smith's History of the 
county of Cork, Vol. I. page 2G7. 



Ti 

sioti ; that the nation, from the Prince to the peasant was divided 
into classes ; that honour and dignities were hereditary in famihes ; 
and that in times of the greatest distress, particularly during the 
Danish wars, these customs prevailed ; in fact the constitution ceased 
as soon as they were discontinued, we must doubt the probabihty of 
such an interregnum." Be this as it may, the succeeding monarch 
was EocHAiDH, son ofDatreof the royal line of 1th. Whether it 
was conquest or election raised hirn to the throne, we are not in- 
formed. He was surnamed Edghachach, or of the many coloured 
robe, because his silken mantle was as variegated as the rainbow. 
He is neither distinguished for virtues nor vices in our annals. All 
that we are told, is that after a disturbed reign of four years, he was 
slain by Cearmna, of the line of Ir. The homicide, in conjunction 
with his brother Sobhairce, assumed sovereign power. They, like 
many of their predecessors, made a partition of the kingdom. 

The soutiiern division, from Drogheda to Limerick, was governed 
by Cearmna ; the northern, from the Boyne to Londonderry, by 
Sobhairce. They were united by affection and policy, but after a 
turbulent reign of forty years, they were defeated and slain, at the 
battle of Tara, by Eochaidh Faobharglas (or the green blade) of 
the royal dynasty of Heber. 

This Prince ascended the Irish throne, A. M. 2909. He caused 
several forges to be erected for the fabrication of martial weapons. 
He filled all his arsenals with arms, and the appellation of Faobhar- 
glas was given him, from his having discovered the art of giving 
different colours to sword blades. We are informed that the points 
of his javelins, spears, and scimitars were green. In the psalter of 
Cashel, he is distinguished by the title of Faobhardhearg, or the king 
of the bloody edge, intimating the prowess of his sword in cutting 
down his enemies in battle. He invaded Scotland, punished the 
Picts for assisting the late kings of the house of Ir, and after oblig- 
ing them to pay tribute and give hira hostages, bound them by oath 
never to interfere again in the elections of the Irish raonarchs. 

He returned to Tara in triumph, but the Hebereans conspired 
against him, and, with their followers, attacked him, and succeeded 
in vanquishing his army and killing himself, at the battle of Gorman, 
in Meath. 

FiAciiADH Lahhrume, the chieftain of the victorious Hebereans, 
was invested with the royal purple, A. M. 2929. The epithet Labli- 
ruinc, was given him from Inbher Labhruine, a river, that suddenly 
made its appearance in his reign. It is also recorded that Lough 
Erne, in the county of Fermanagh, one of the most beautiful and 
picturesque lakes in Europe, overflowed its bounds in this reign, 
and deluged an extensive scope of the country, belonging, then, to 
the Ernaans of the Belgic tribe, from whom this noble sheet of 
water derives its name. In our topography of the counties of Sligo, 
Fermanagh and Cavan, we shall describe the enchanting Islands, 
with which Loch Erne is interspersed, and the romantic domains 
with which its limpid waters are fringed. 

FiACHADii was a Prince of martial genius, and great capacity for 
government. He defeated the Hebereans in four successive engage- 



78 ' 

nients, and afterwards embarked with his son Aongus, for Scotland, 
where he soon quelled an insurrection of the Ficts, from whom he 
exacted the usual tribute.* But neither his virtues, nor his valour 
could guard his throne from the machinations of conspirators. 
EocHAiDH, the grandson of the monarch of that name, raised the 
standard of revolt and gave battle to Fiachadh, on the plains of 
Bealgadin, where the brave king fell covered with glory, after a 
reign of twenty-seven years. The defeat and death of the heroic 
Fiachadh gave the victor, Eochaidh III, the son of Maferbhis, the 
son of Eochaidh II. possession of the Irish crown. He was surnamed 
Mumho, from his strength and power ; and it is from him that 
Munster derives its name, as the psalter of Cashel testifies. His 
reign makes no great figure in our annals. He lost his power as he 
gained it, by insurrection. Aongus, the son of Fiachadh, at the head 
of his adherents brought the king to an engagement, at Cliach, where 
the royal troops were routed and the monarch slain, A. M. 2975. 
The accession of Aongus, who was distinguished by the appellation 
of the Ol-Bhuadhaich, or the invincible victor, to the throne, was 
hailed by the universal acclamation of the Irish people. He had 
talents fit to shine in the field and in the cabinet. In the beginning of 
his reign, the Damnonii of Connaught made an attempt to shake 
off his authority ; but he soon suppressed this rebellion, and reduced 
the insurgents to subjection. 

He pursued a legion of the rebels to Britain, whither they had fled 
in hopes of obtaining succours from the Picts ; and succeeded, not 
only in annihilating them, but in chastising also the Picts for giving 
them reception, contrary to the faith of treaties. 

He must, indeed, have met a determined opposition from the revolt- 
ed Belgae, and their allies the Picts, as our historians say that they 
fought 30 pitched battles with him, before they had yielded to his 
subjection. On his return home, flushed with victory, he was obliged 
to march to Thomond and Fermanagh, to chastise the disaffected 
Ernaans, and Fomorians. Having thus crushed domestic, and sub- 
dued foreign enemies, he turned his thoughts to the internal improve- 
ment of his kingdom. He caused ten woods to be cut down, and 

* ''This gallant king and his son Aongus, engaged the Scottish Picts, and the 
old Britons that inhabited Jilhania, and defeated them in every action. The effect 
of these victories was an entire conquest of the country, and a reduction of that 
war-like people, the Caledonians, as well as the Picts, to pay homage to the crown of 
Ireland. For though the Picts had from the time ofHeremon, been tributaries to 
the Irish, for the space of 230 years after the Milesians first possessed themselves 
of the Island, yet the Scots never owned themselves under subjection, till they 
were conquered by Fiachadh Lahhruine, who compelled the whole kingdom of 
Scotland to obedience, and forced the inhabitants to pay an annual tribute." — 
Keating. 

" Indeed all our own old historians admit that we were for ages before, and 
after the birth of Christ, tributary to the crown of Ireland." — Laing's Hist of 
Scotland. 

" That Scotland was a colony of Ireland cannot be denied. The evidence of his- 
tory is too strong to be disputed by us. Dr. Blair, with all his genius and national 
enthusiasm, has failed in his attempt to remove the landmarks of Scottish and 
Irish history." — Disser. on the origin of the Scythian, Irish and Picts. Edinburgh, 
1799. Vol. I. page 97. 



79 

tlie soil which they had covered, to be ciihivated. During his reign, 
it is said, that an overflowing of the ocean separated Eaba from 
Rosketa, in Carberry, in the county of Sligo. But in the eighteenth 
year of his reign, Eadhna Airghtheach, the son of Eochaidh 
Mumho, caused a defection of his people, which eventuated in his 
overthrow, and death in battle. The conqueror Eadhna ascended 
the throne. He received the appellation of Airghtheach, or the 
silver, from his having bestowed many shields and targets of pure 
silver on his officers as a reward for their merit and intrepidity in 
his wars. 

This monarchs war chariot, all our historians say, was composed 
of silver, and rendered still more costly by the lavish embellishments 
of art with which it was ornamented.* The Abbe McGeoghegan, 
however, conjectures that the epithet Airghtheach might have been 
derived from his riches, as he amassed immense wealth from con- 
quests and tributes. We have no account of his campaigns, after 
his accession to the throne. In the twenty-seventh year of his reign, 
in attempting to quell the insurrection of Rotheachta, the grandson 
of Aongus, his army was destroyed and himself slain at Raighne, in 
Leinster, A. M, 3020. 

The success of the insurrection, put the reins of royal authority 
into the hands of its leader. 

There is nothing particular related in our annals of Rotheachta, 
but that he fell by the hand of Seadhna, his successor, at the battle 
of Cruachan, in Connaught, after a reign of twenty-five years. 

The victorious Seadhna, of the line of Ir, succeeded to the crown, 
A. M. 3045, but after a short reign of five years, undistinguished by 
any exploit or act of beneficence, he was barbarously cut off by his 
own son Fiachadh at Rathcruachan, assisted by hired African 
assassins. 

The vile parricide, with hands still reeking with the blood of his 
parent, seized the sceptre, A. M. 3050. His atrocious deed rendered 
liim an object of general detestation, and conscious guilt kept his 
mind in daily alarm. He never went out of the recesses of his 
palace, without being surrounded by his guards. He obtained the 
name, or adjunct of Fiosgothach, from his having made wine from 

* " Certain it is that the Irish military, indeed, like all true sons of the blade, 
placed their greatest glory in the splendour and richness of their arms. This 
Solinus, otherwise no admirer of the Irish, fully confesses. That they also fought 
in chariots highly ornamented, cannot be doubted ; because our history abounds 
with accounts of them, and the beauty, spirit, and even the names ot the very 
horses employed in them are not forgot. We have seen when different coloured 
blades were introduced by Eochaidh, and this, and the detail of our Carcads, or 
chariots of war, will fully explain the description which Florus gives us of BotuituSj 
in the Allobrogian war, " who added splendour to the triumph, being drawn in 
his silver chariot with his arms of different colours, such as he fought with." — 
O'Halloran. 

" The order of battle among the old Irish soldiers is not sufficiently explained 
by the prints and manuscripts that have fallen into our hands ; but this we are 
assured of, that their Carcads, or military chariots, were of great use ; by creating 
confusion, and breaking the ranks of an enemy, in plains of too great an extent. 
So expert were they in this kind of exercise, that great feats are recorded of some 
of our ancient military charioteers. The chariots of Connal Kearnagh, and 
Cuchullin have been immortalized by Ossian. — Diss, on Irish Hist, page 66. 



80 

certain flowers, with vviiicli Ireland, it is said, abounded in those 
days. O'Halloran is of opinion, that tlie culture of vines was much 
improved at tliis time ; and that conjecture is still borne out more 
strongly by the authority of other antiquarian writers.* But notwith- 
standing the precaution o( .Fiachadh, and the vigilance of his guards, 
divine vengeance at length overtook him, in the twentieth year of 
his reign. 

In an engagement with Muinheamhoin, of the royal stock of 
I-Ieber, he lost his life and throne, A. M. 3070. 

The Victor, as usual, ascended the throne of his predecessor, by 
the unanimous consent of a people who, for twenty years, groaned 
under the despotism of a cruel implacable tyrant. Muinheamhoin 
began his reign under the most flattering national auspices, and his 
government daily developed the beneficial effects of the justice and 
clemency which constituted its basis. The blessings of peace pro- 
moted national happiness and prosperity. He was the founder of 
the royal order of the golden-collar, which became afterwards so 
honorable, that no Prince could presume to ascend the throne of 
Ireland, who did not belong to it. He who aspired to this exalted 
order, besides being of noble birth, should also give the following 
proofs of chivalric dexterity, before he could be admitted a member 
of it. A buckler was attached to a post, in the middle of a plain, 
and according to the number of lances that the candidate broke 
against it in running, he was more or less honoured, and if he was 
at his first essay, fortunate enough, in breaking the prescribed 
number, he in that case gained his admission, and the Herald at 
arms then recommended him to the king, before whom, and the 
knio^hts, he was to exhibit other feats of chivalry, in the court of 
tournament, where the monarch invested him with the collar. 
Froissard informs us, that the same ceremony was observed at the 
reception of a king's son into this illustrious order, and as they were 
sometimes admitted at a very tender age, they were furnished with 
lances of a weight proportioned to their strength. At the age of 
seven .years, the Princes were inducted in the military academy at 
Tara, where they were regularly instructed in military discipline. 
The first arms put into their hands, in the academy, were a lance 
and sword ; at ten years of age, they were exercised in casting a 
javelin at a mark, at which, in process of time they became so 



* " That the Milesians introduced the vine in Ireland there can be no dispute ; 
from the accounts which we have in old poems, and genealogies, of the vast quan- 
tities of wine which were used at their feasts and entertainments." We have no 
authority of their having imported any wine. — Leslies Irish Sylva. Dublin 1735. 
Page 177. . ^ . , , 

" The culture of the vine was so much regarded by the ancient Irish that the 
Brehons promulgated a special law for the protection and encouragement of the 
vine-fields." — Vide J. C. Walker's Rise and Progress of Gardening, in Ireland. 

" It seems clear to me, that wine was formerly made amongst us. The venera- 
ble Bede, in his Ecclesiastical history, affirms that wine was very plenty in Ire- 
land, and should his testimony want further support, we find Irish words for 
everything relative to this precious fruit; As Fion-Jlmhuin, which signifies a 
vine-yard, Fion-Dios, a wine press, Fion-Chaor, a grape, &c., so that it is with 
some reason I assert, that about this time the culture of vines was much improved 
in Ireland."— O'Halloran. 



81 

expert as to transfix a brazen shield at every aim. After becoming 
proficients in this exercise, they then practised the Cran-Tubal or 
sHng, from wliich they could dart bails with great force and preci- 
sion. Having acquired a perfect mastery over these weapons ; at 
fourteen they mounted the war chariot, armed with the long spear 
and heavy battle axe, and as soon as they could sufficiently govern 
their coursers, and drive them through various evolutions with quick 
celerity, with one hand, and wield the spear and battle axe, alternately, 
with tiie other, they were admitted to the honour of knighthood, and 
assigned a command in their father's army. 

Let it not be supposed from this statement, that all their time was 
devoted to the study of arms : on the contrary, they were also 
obliged to be conversant with general literature and science ; for it 
is a iiistorical fact, that poetry was such an essential branch of edu- 
cation among the Irish Princes, that every king, ere he ascended 
the throne, was necessitated to compose the funeral song of his pre- 
decessor, and sing it to his harp. 

MuiNHEAMHOiN, also causcd helmets to be made, ornamented with 
pure gold, which he distributed among the bravest of the military 
and the most meritorious of the nobles.* Dr. O'Halloran informs 
us, that the gold, in the front of the helmet, was in the form of a 
crescent ; that he had seen several of them ; and had one for a con- 
siderable time in his possession, which weighed three ounces. 
Indeed, in the course of this history, we shall have ample opportu- 
nities to dilate on the vast quantities of gold, silver, and precious 
stones, which were possessed by the old Irish. f 

The reign of this Prince, which was a continued scene of peace, 
and internal improvement, lasted but five years, he was carried off 
by the plague, A. M. 3075. He was succeeded by his son Aldergoid, 
a Prince of whom little is recorded, except that he invested the 
Bards, and Ollamhs (Doctors) with new powers and dignities, and 
as an honorary mark of distinction, he ordered them to wear gold 

* " The ancient Irish nobility, before the arrival of the English, were the Righ, 
JVeiTned, Toifeach, Tiarna and Flath. The first was the provincial king; the 
second the chief of a large district ; the third a military leader; and the last the 
ruler of a Rath." (The Raths are large, lofty and circular motes, composed of 
stone, bedded in lime, and clay, and generally encompassed with a high rampart. 
Their number in Ireland is innumerable. In many of them are caves, and circu- 
lar chambers of spacious extent. They are in general so situated, that a corres- 
pondence, by telegraphic signals, could be expeditiously circulated from one to 
another, throughout the country. Antiquarians are not agreed as to the epoch 
of their erection; but we shall treat of these mounds elsewhere, in this work.) 
" This order of nobility held in a chain of subordination by feudal tenures, from the 
Ard Righ, or supreme monarch of the Isle." — Jlntfdlogia Hih. Vol. I. page 38. 

Every tribe had its legitimate chief or head of a clan, among whom the country 
was divided. The principal chieftains of Ireland, on the landing of Henry II. 
were — McCarthy, Prince of Desmond; O'Brien, Prince of Thomond; Kinselagh, 
Prince of Leinster, as the descendant of Cahir the great; Urial, or Uladh, under 
the O'Donlevys and McMahon's ; Clan-Coleman, chieftains of Meath; the 
O'Neil's and O'Donnel's, Princes of Ulster; and the O'Connor's, Princes of Hy- 
Fiacra, or Connaught. — Disser. on Irish Hist, page 176. 

t " "The ancient Irish were very fond of gold ornaments, and utensils. Spenser 
relates that they used golden bridle bits, stirrups, spurs, petronels, drinking cups, 
and candlesticks, even in his day, when they were suffering under the grinding 
laws of Queen Elizabeth." — Vallancey. 
11 



82 

rings on their fingers. From allowing the poets and artists to deck 
their hands with rings, he got the appellation of Aldergoid, as we 
are told by the Psalter of Cashel. For Failge, or faine, signifies a 
ring or gold; and doid, the hand. This was the origin of wearing rings 
in Ireland. We believe the custom of embellishing the hand with rings 
originated in Egypt. We read in the Bible that Pharaoh, presented 
Joseph with gold rings, when he interpreted his dream. After the 
reign of Aldergoid, the custom of wearing rings, in Ireland, remained 
an honorary distinction. When the monarch appointed his poet 
Laureate, he placed a ring on his finger, with his own hands. We 
are told by historians, that in the eighth century, when Claude Cle- 
ment, and John Scot, both Irishmen, and the founders of the univer- 
sity of Paris, were appointed regents of the Colleges of Pavia, and 
Paris, by Charlemagne, they first introduced the Birede, or Doctor's 
cap, and the gold ring, by which distinctive investments they preced- 
ed all ranks, but the nobility. 

In the twelfth year of his reign, the Irish, instigated by Eochaidh, 
the son of Fiachadh, of the house of Ir, broke out in rebellion against 
Aldergoid, who on coming to an engagement with the insurgents, 
was killed at the battle of Tara, A. M. 3087. 

After this victory, Eochaidh took possession of the throne. His 
coronation presented one of the most splendid spectacles that was 
ever witnessed in Ireland ; all the Druids, Bards, Warriors, Nobles, 
and Knights in the kingdom were present at the august and pompous 
ceremony. Being a Prince of extensive attainments and a lover of 
literature, and the arts, at his inauguration he assumed the Bardic 
habit, and the name of Ollamh Fodhla, or the Doctor of Ireland. 
" Fodhla,''' says O'Flaherty, " was the name given to Ireland by the 
Gaodhals, or Iberian Scots." The reign of this Prince commenced 
about six hundred years before the Christian era. His literary 
talents, and legislative wisdom are emblazoned by our historians in 
the most brilliant picture, that the genuis of Irish poetry could paint. 

Annalists and Bards have pronounced his apotheosis and arrayed 
his fame with the splendour of "every virtue under heaven." The 
salutary laws which he enacted, the judicious institutions he establish- 
ed, the encouragement he gave to genins, and the beneficial reforms 
he effected, in every branch of the government, must ever keep his 
name buoyant on the flood of historical panegyric. It is not, then, 
too much to say that his reign constitutes the most memorable epoch 
in the Milesian annals. For until his sagacity and judgment reme- 
died the evils of ages, the Milesians could not be said to possess a 
government under the wholesome and wise restriction of impartial 
laws and civil policy. 

The first great measure of his reign was to establish a National 
Convention at Tara.* The national assembly consisted of the pro- 

* " Tara was the royal seat of the kings of Ireland, and the principal court of 
legislation from the days of this renowned monarch, down to the reign of Dermod 
O'Carroll, A. D. 560, so that the Fes, or parliament, continued its sittings from 
time to time there, through a series of more than eleven hundred years. Since 
the year of Christ, 560, our national assemblies were removed from Teamore, and 
kept occasionally in other parts of the Island, patrimonially subject to the north 



83 

vincial Kings, Nobles, Druids, Brehons, Bards and Artists. This 
parliament was convened three days before the great feast o{ Samhuin 
(or the Moon) and the two first days were spent in making, visits, 
the third in celebrating the rites and festivities of the moon in the 
grand temple. The Druids having performed the sacred mysteries, 
the temple was illuminated, and their deities invoked to look with 
a propitious eye on the national councils. The three succeeding 
days were devoted to joy and festivity ; all the people mingled in the 
general carnival without distinction. 

On the fourth day, the Esquires of the nobility, being summoned 
by the sound of a trumpet, appeared at the Portico of the grand hall, 
and delivered up the shields and ensigns of their chiefs, to the depu- 
ties of the great marshal of the crown. 

These shields and banners were placed according to the rank of 
their different owners, by the king at arms, on stands appropriated 
for them, in the senatorial hall. All these banners, by order of the 
monarch, had the family coat of arms emblazoned upon them, but as 
we intend to devote part of the next chapter to the armorial bearings 
and heraldic devices of the Irish Princes, we will not enter into a detail 
here. Soon after the target bearers of the general officers were 
called by a second blast of the trumpet to deliver up their targets. 
As soon as these were arranged, all the heralds stationed themselves 
on a gallery before the grand portico, and gave a royal flourish of 
trumpets, when immediately after, the gorgeous procession, headed 
by the supreme monarch, arrayed in his royal robes, and supported 
by his standard bearers, commenced ; the Queen, supported by two 
Princesses, having her train borne by fifty maids of honour, followed 
by the hundred virgins of the moon, moved after the king in the 
order of march ; then came the four provincial kings, followed by the 
Druids, Nobility, Bards, Knights, Esquires and Soldiers. The 
entrance of the assembly was announced by sacred odes set to a 
grand variety of musical instruments. Miodh Cuarta, (or the house 
of kings and nobles,) the great chamber of the national representa- 
tives, was three hundred feet long, thirty cubits high, and fifty in 
width. It had access by fourteen doors, which opened on several 
adjoining apartments, fitted up for the kings and deputies of each 
province. 

The monarch's throne was placed in the centre of the hall, under 
a richly ornamented canopy of yellow and scarlet silk. Behind the 
throne there was a gallery for the accommodation of the Queen, 
Princesses, ladies, and the virgins of the moon. The space that in- 

and south Hy-Nials. Tara, for some wicked proceedings (of which great national 
councils give but too many instances) was formally pronounced accursed by the 
Arch-Bishop of Armagh and his suffragans, and no monarch of Ireland sat there, 
after the period we have mentioned, down to the dissolution of the monarchy, 
under Roderick O'Connor." — Disser. on Irish Hist. 

All that now remains of the once magnificent palace of Tara — of the hall of the 
national assembly, and of its stupendous Druidical college, is a ruined castle 
on the summit of a hill, and the moss-clad fragments of an ancient abbey on the 
neighbouring eminence of Skreene, in the county of Meath. Such are the relics, 
not like those of Persepolis or Jerusalem, " grand even in desolation," of the regal 
residence of a thousand Irish kings. — Author. 



84 

tervened the back of the throne, and the gallery, was occupied by 
the seat of the king of Connaught, over whom four knights held a 
green and purple canopy, emblazoned with his arms ; as well as with 
parallel rows of benches for the Ollamhs, or Doctors. The particu- 
lar reason for placing the king of Connaught in the back ground, is 
not sufficiently explained by any account extant. OTlaherty con- 
jectures that the cause was owing to the king of Connaught being 
of the Belgic race, and consequently, not entitled to so eminent a 
station, in the assembly, as the Milesian Princes. 

The king of Leinster's throne fronted the monarch, whose face 
was turned to the west. The kings of Ulster and Munster occupied 
thrones on the right and left hand side. 

Long benches were erected for the other orders of the state. Of 
these benches the Druids, the Bards, and Brehons, took the first ; next 
to these sat the hereditary marshal, standard bearers and treasurer; 
then the nobility, knights, beatachs, and representatives of towns and 
cities. On one side there was a gallery for the convenience of the 
deputies of the Picts, Brigantes of Britain, and oiher strangers. 
Such was the order of the sittings of the great National Conven- 
tion of Tara, which for ages after met triennially. The object of 
this legislative body was to regulate the affairs of the state ; to frame 
a new code of laws ; and to repeal such as were found inconsistent 
with the good of the subject ; and which might have been enacted 
through the ignorance of former legislators, or derive prescriptive 
authority from the caprice of custom. A salutary revision of old 
laws, and the enactment of new ones occupied the first deliberations 
of this senate. 

They took cognizance of every thing connected with the state. 
Foreign alliances, peace, and war, and a rigorous examination of 
the national records, were matters of primary consideration. All 
their decisions were reduced by the recording Brehons into verse, 
and after being properly attested, registered in the royal archives.* 

* " The Brchon Fileas, were commissioned to set down in writing every remark- 
able transaction worth recording, that happened in the kingdom, as well as in the 
neighbouring states, agreeably to the truth of the facts ; — and lest any error, or 
false insinuation should creep in or be introduced, they were bound in the general 
convention, or in the presence of the chief monarch, and a select committee of 
the nobility and Druids, to produce their writings every three years, when, after 
a diligent examination, and having expunged every fact, which appeared either 
uncertain or of doubtful authority, from the record, and none preserved but what 
was sanctioned by the votes of all as worthy of the great Psalter of Tara ; so 
called because it was compiled in verse to aid the memory, and to guard against 
corruptions and falsifications." — Primate Usher. 

" To remedy the great evil of fictitious history, the productions of the historio- 
grapheis were examined in the great Fes or parliament of Tara. Historical 
calumny was punished by a standing law. Thus the vast uncertainties to which 
the history of a free and divided people, is ever liable, were in a good degree pre- 
vented by the dread of legal inflictions." — Dissert, on Irish Hist. 

" In this manner the ancient Irish preserved the anecdotes of every public 
transaction that was of importance enough to be delivered dovi'n to the world ; and 
it was a care perhaps peculiar to these people. The authors who had the insolence 
to impose upon posterity, either by pervertingmattersof fact, or representing them 
in partial and improper colours, to the unmerited reproach of any character were 
solemnly degraded from the honour of sitting in the national assembly." — 
Warner. 



85 

"What tiaie the parliament of Tara," says the learned O'Connor, 
"took up in despatching the multiplicity of affairs laid before them, 
and what their order of debate, and voting, we could not, by all 
inquiries, hitherto learn. What we know for certain of Irish legis- 
lation, may be brought within a small compass. The forms of the 
admirable constitution established by Ollamh FodJila, were observed, 
even in the distractions of civil war. Their sessions were triennial : 
and in ratifying their ordinances, they took up six whole days, 
before the monarch gave them the royal assent." In this high court 
the provincial kings were obliged to answer to the complaints of 
their subjects, and become responsible to the laws. If any prince 
proved refractory, every order in the state was to send in a certain 
quota of men, who in conjunction with the forces of the monarch, 
brought him to subjection. 

This great legislator also enacted a law against the crime of rape, 
by which the delinquent was to suffer death, without liberty to make 
an appeal to royal clemency. 

The same punishment was inflicted upon any one who molested 
any of the women of the provincial Queens, during the session; or 
who should assault or annoy a member of parliament going to, or 
coming from the hall of assembly. In order to give females the 
respect and regard which they deserved in society, the provincial 
Queens were empowered by the laws of this leayslator, to discuss on, 
and devise regulations for the benefit of their sex, in an assembly 
which was called Griannan na Ningliean, or the sacred council of 
the ladies. 

There were also assemblies here of an inferior nature, a particu- 
lar court of justice was appointed to receive appeals from the pro- 
vinces against the petty despotism of subordinate chiefs, which was 
called Realta na Fhileadh, or the decision of justice. All the records 
of the kingdom underwent a strict and critical examination, and the 
antiquarians became subject to the severest penalties, if they were 
convicted of falsehood, or of poisoning by slander, the current of 
historical accuracy. An abstract of all the provincial records was 
registered in the " Senachas More,'''' or the great story of antiquity, 
and then deposited in the archives of Tara. This famous Psalter 
commenced with the origin, exploits and migrations of the Milesians, 
written by Ollamh himself. But besides this general repository of 
Irish affairs, every province was obliged to keep a separate history, 
whence arose the Psalter of Cashel, the Psalters of Armagh, and 
Tuam ; the books of Leath-Cuin, Dromsneachta, Glendaloch, of 
conquests and invasions. This monarch likewise established at Tara 
a university called Mur-Ollamhan, or the college of Doctors ; and 
invested such as took their degrees here, with a privilege of taking 
precedence of all others of the same rank, in the kingdom. Such 
were the institutions of this enlightened and learned legislator — 
institutions founded on the soundest principles of justice and equity, 
and which the nation always looked upon as the great and sacred 
charter of their liberties. After an auspicious reign of forty years — 
a reign ennobled by royal virtue, and rendered immortal by the 
performance of acts of justice, of philanthropy and general utility, 



86 

our great legislator died at the palace of Tara, A. M. 3122, full of 
years and glorv ; leaving a rich and prosperous kingdom to his 
son, without a rival to question his right of succession. 



CHAPTER X. 

The reigns of Fion, Slanoll. — Irish Heraldry : — Milesian Banners and Armorial 
Bearings. — The accession of Giede to the throiie : — The reign of Fiachadh III. — 
of Bearngall — of 0' Lioll — of Siorna and Rotheachta. 

A great Prince seldom has a great son, as the evidence of history 
demonstrates. The sons of Pompey and Constantino the Great, 
neither inherited the valour, the magnanimity, nor expanded intel- 
lect of their illustrious fathers. Had the son of Napoleon lived, and 
been raised to that throne on which his illustrious father shed such 
radiant glory, it is probable that he would not have displayed the 
genius or heroism of his great and magnanimous sire. 

Our celebrated law-giver, Ollmuh Fodhla, was succeeded by his son, 
FioNN, whom the Irish annalists designated Fionn Sneachdach, in 
consequence of the unusual quantities of snow that fell every suc- 
ceeding winter during his reign. 

This Prince is represented to have been mild and condescending 
in his behaviour, but much addicted to amatory gallantry ; so that 
his court exhibited a continued scene of luxury and intrigue. The 
cares and duties of governing the nation devolved upon his minis- 
ters, while he himself ingloriously lolled on the soft lap of beauty. 
After a reign of twenty years, a reign only distinguished for profli- 
gacy, and demoralizing vices, he died of a fever, occasioned by 
excess of voluptuous pleasures, at Tara, A. M. 3142. Leaving no 
legitimate issue, his brother Slaintcach (the all healthy) was called 
to the throne by the unanimous wishes of the nation. 

The appellation of the all healthy was bestowed upon him, because 
no virulent or epidemic distemper broke out in Ireland, during his 
administration. He commenced his reign by making the most 
salutary reforms in the system of government, from which he lopped 
off all the cankering abuses, that crept into it, during the injudicious 
administration of his brother. He summoned the estates to Tara, 
and caused many plans, designed by his father, to be carried into 
effect. The laws of Heraldry were put in active operation. Every 
noble family had to furnish an attested and authenticated account 
of its pedigree, and genealogies, from the days of Milesius, which 
after having undergone the most scrutinous inquiry from the Chro- 
nologers and antiquarian Heralds, was registered in the records of 
nobiUty at Tara. Such nobles as adduced the requisite proofs of 
their Milesian descent, were assigned a coat of arms, allowed to 
assume badges of distinction, and emblazon their shields with symbolic 
devices. The warriors adorned their helmets with a crest, which 
generally represented some savage beast, or fierce bird of prey ; 



87 

these emblematie figures, and high waving plumes distinguished the 
different leaders in battle, and served at once to encourage their 
soldiers and dismay their enemies. The chiefs who signally distin- 
guished themselves by valour in a particular battle, were granted 
permission by the king, to delineate their banners with representa- 
tions of the trees and herbage that grew in the field of fight, as 
glorious symbols of their gallantry.* 

The royal banner of our Milesian monarchs, which displayed its 
emblazoned quarterings to the terrified Romans, at the battle of 
Cannae, and on the hills of Caledonia, and the wall of Severus, 
presented a dead serpent suspended from the miraculous rod of 
Moses. The cause of this device on our royal ensign, is owing to 
the Hebrew prophet having, as we have already recorded, cured the 
wound which the bite of a serpent had inflicted on the neck, of 
Gadelus. 

The harp, as we heretofore mentioned, was borne on the banner 
of Slainge, the Belgic chief, and first monarch of Ireland ; and the 
Milesians continued the national emblem until the conquest of the 
Island. The misunderstanding that occurred between the' two 
Milesian Princes, Heber and Heremon, as related in our preceding 

* " Our Irish annals are very particular in accounting for the arms and devices 
borne by several eminent persons, and the most flourishing nations. They inform 
us that Hector, the Trojan hero, bore sable, two lions combatant, or that Osiris 
bore a Sceptre-royal ensigned on the top with an eye ; — Hercules bore a lion ram- 
pant, holding a battle axe : — the arms of the kingdom of Macedon were a wolf^ — 
Anubes bore a dog ; the Scythians, who remained in the country and made no 
conquests abroad as the Gadelians did, bore a thunderbolt ; — the Egyptians bore 
an ox; the Phrygians a swine ; the Thracians painted the god Mars upon their 
banners; the Romans an eagle, and the Persians bows and arrows. The old poet 
Homer, relates, that several curious devices were raised on the shield of Achilles, 
such as the motions of the sun and moon, the stars and planets, a sphere with the 
celestial bodies, the situation of the earth, the ebbing and flowing of the sea, with 
other uncommon decorations and ornaments that rendered it beautiful and surpris- 
ing. Alexander the Great bore a lion rampant, and ordered his soldiers to display 
the same arms upon their shields, as a distinguishing mark of their valour and 
military achievements : — Ulysses bore a Dolphin, and the Giant Typhon belching 
out flames of fire : the arms of Perseus was a Medusa's head ; Antiochus chose a 
lion and a white wand for his : — Theseus bore an ox, and Seleucus a bull : — 
Augustus Caesar bore the image of Alexander the Great ; but sometimes, he laid 
that aside, and used the sign Capricorn ; at other times he blazoned a globe, or the 
helm of a ship, supported commonly by an anchor and dolphin." — Keating. 

" The author of the Leahhar Leat/ia, treating upon this subject, gives this account 
of the coat of arms of the twelve tribes of Israel : — the tribe of Reuben had a. 
mandrake painted upon their banners ; Simeon, a spear ; Levi the ark ; Judah a. 
lion ; Issachar an ass ; Zebulon a ship ; Napthali a deer ; Gad a lioness ; Joseph 
a bull; Benjamin a wolf; Dan a serpent; andAsher a branch of vine." — Ogygia. 

" There was no nation where heraldic distinctions were more strictly regulated 
than in Ireland. When a chieftain distinguished himself against the enemy, his 
name and exploit were immediately entered into the records of his house, to be trans- 
mitted down from father to son ; and by that means to inspire the several branches 
of the family with an emulation to imitate such a great example. 

The yellow banner emblazoned with the dead serpent, and the rod of Moses, was 
borne by the standard bearer of Roderick O'Connor, when that last monarch of 
Erin had an interview with Henrj?^ II." — Warner. 

" The origin of Heraldry among us is undoubtedly very remote ; I think it at 
least coeval with military institutions, and that it has preceded those of chivalry. 

The business of the Sewac/tie, or antiquarian, was to preserve the pedigrees of 
families only, whilst that of the Marascal, or Herald, was to blazon their arms, and 
determine their rank." — O'Halloran. 



pages, concerning the possession of a famous poet and a masterly 
musician, who came in their suit from Spain, on being amicably 
adjusted by the decision of the arch-Druid, Amhergin, who assigned 
the musician to Heber, and the poet to Heremon. The brothers, to 
commemorate this happy concordance and settlement of their differ- 
ence, quartered the harp on their ensigns, with the serpent and 
wand. 

Forages the standard of Erin, which spread its brilliant qiiarter- 
ings in the breezes that bent alpine oaks, and shook Caledonian 
thistles, continued emblazoned with these armorial devices of our 
pristine greatness. But alas ! that banner of glory which dnzzled 
Roman legions with the thunder flashes of victory, has been rent 
by English oppression, and the gorgeous escutcheon on which 
martial renown had pictured the heroic deeds of our Cuchullins, 
McMornies, FingaIs,Ossians, O'Neils, McCarthys, O'Briens, 0"Don- 
nels, and O'Connors, has been crumbled into the dust of oblivion 
by the ruthless hand of the Saxon despoilers. 

The provincial kings bore their own proper and peculiar arms. 
The king of Munster's banner, before the reign of Brian Boroihme, 
displayed on a field azure, three eastern diadems proper. When 
Brian assumed sovereign sway over the two Munsters, he caused his 
shield to be emblazoned with three lions passant, and his royal 
banner presented on a wreath of green, a naked arm issuing out of 
a cloud, both proper, brandishing a sword pearl, the pomel and hilt 
topaz, supported by two lions guardant. This is the coat of arms 
still borne by the Marquis of Thomond, who is lineally descended 
from " Brian the brave." The arms of Ulster are on a green field, 
a lion rampant, double queved gules ; but the O'Neil's crest was a 
bloody hand grasping a crown, from which they were denominated 
the Nials of the red arm, or " Craobh-tiiadh." The armorial ensign 
of Connaught exhibited — party pearl-pale, argent and sable ; on the 
argent side, a demi-eagle spread sable ; and on the field, sable, a 
hand and arm holding a sword erect. The arms impressed on some 
of the coins of king Roderick, which are in the museum of Trinity 
College, Dublin, differed from the above as they represent Jupiter 
a Cavalier completely armed. According to Sir James Ware, 
Malachy, king of Meath, bore a banner of purple in 1014, at the 
battle of Clontarf, which represented a king enthroned in majesty, 
with a lily in his hand, in a field Saturn. 

Leinster's coat of arms exhibited, on a field vert, an harp strung 
argent. At the tilts and tournaments held in the court of chivalry at 
Tara, the ensign that floated over the canopy of the monarch, dis- 
played a bleeding hind, wounded by an arrow, under the arch of an 
old castle ; but this flag was only unfurled at the chivalric games. 
The arras of McCarthy More, Prince of Desmond and Cork, were 
quartered on a Grecian shield, which was supported on either side 
by an oUamh and knight. The crest of this illustrious family was a 
globe surmounted by the harp and crown. Yellow, blue and purple 
were the royal colours of Ireland. O'Donohoe, the Prince of Kil- 
larney, bore a crimson banner, on which were painted in green and 
gold, a crown supported by two foxes. But it is time to close a 



89 

detail that can only interest the antiquarian, who wishes to blow 
away tfie dust that obscures the brilliancy of the Milesian escutcheon, 
and to search the Herculaneum ruins of Irish history, for the antique 
g:ems and venerable monuments which lie buried in the lava of 
Danish and English devastation, and despotism.* 

The nation enjoyed peace and prosperity under the wise and 
beneficent administration of Slanoll ; and his meekness and mild- 
ness endeared him to his subjecis, from whose affections lie was 
however torn by dentil, in the seventeenth year of his reign. A 
silly story is told by Dr. Keating, of tliis monarch's corpse having 
been disinterred, forty years after his demise, and found pure and 
incorrupted, though no process of embalming had been used to 
preserve it. 

Our history is silent respecting the art of embalming; so that we 
may conclude the ancient Irish did not resort to the Egyptian prac- 
tice of preserving the form of their departed friends in the tomb. 

GiEDE, surnamed Oll-Glor-m-bcal, from his strong and sonorous 
voice, the youngest son of Ollamh Fodhla, ascended the throne of 
his departed brother, A. M. 31;")9. His reign was disturbed by the 
pretensions of Fiacbadb, his nephew, who at length succeeded in his 
ambitious designs, and slew the monarch in a general engngement, 
which happened in the sixteenth year of his reign. Fiachadh III. 
after vanquishing and killing bis uncle, assumed sovereign sway. 
As soon as the sceptre was within his grasp, he evinced a disposition 
to sit down under the laurels of his late victory, and cultivate the 
arts of peace. He erected a sumptuous palace at Kells, in the 
county of Meath, and became a liberal patron to commerce and agri- 
culture.f He was the first monarch that caused wells to be opened, 

* " In the grand banqueting hall at Tara, ever}' nobleman's rank and dignity 
were known by the armorial bearings on his shield, which the Herald fixed on the 
wall exactly over the seat which he was to occupy at the feast. This regulation 
prevented all disputes about precedency, and marked the gradation of Princes, 
Nobles, and Gentlemen." — Vallancey. 

t " Kells is a large and respectable town, situated on the river Blackwater, in 
the county of Meath, at the distance of thirty-nine miles N. W. from Dublin. It 
was a place of consequence, as appears by Colgan's topography, before the birth of 
Christ ; and several of the Irish nionarchs resided there. Before the invasion of 
Henry II. Kells or Kenlis, which signifies the high fort, was part of the patrimony 
of the O'Finallans ; but the Saxons dispossessed the original proprietors, and 
Henry bestowed Kells upon Hugo De Lacy, in 1173. De Lacy built a castle 
here, the ruins of which still remain. It was in this castle he entertained O'Rourke, 
Prince of Breffeny, when that chivalric chieftain came to remonstrate with the 
English Deputy on the aggressive incursions made by his soldiers, under Griffith, 
into the territorities of east Meath. To settle the dispute that had arisen, O'Rourke, 
who justly dreaded treachery, insisted that Lacy, Fitzgerald and Griffith should 
repair with him to a hill in the vicinity of Kells, where he would alone confer, 
according'to the custom of his ancestors. To this proposition, the English chiefs 
readily assented; but no sooner had the brave and noble minded O'Rourke opened 
the debate, than the three Englishmen seized him, and basely assassinated him on 
the spot. De Lacy afterwards bestowed Kells on his son-in-law. Gilbert Nugent, 
whose descendants in process of lime became Earls of West Meath. In A 
D. 550, St. Columba, the Irish apostle of Scotland, founded an abbey in Kells, for 
regular canons. This town was made an Episcopal see in the thirteenth century, 
when a cathedral was built in it by Walter Lacy, as well as an abbey for Crouched 
Friars, following the order of St. Augustine, whom he richly endowed, on condi- 

12 



90 

and marble fountains for issuing spring water, to be built in Ireland. 
But he was not long suffered to repose in the tranquil shades of 
peace ; as his cousin Bearngall, the son of his predecessor, regard- 
ing him as an usurper of his rights, kindled an insurrection which 
ended in the defeat and death of the monarch, A. M. 3196, after a reign 
of twenty years. The success of Bearngall at once avenged his 
father's death, and gave to him possession of the throne of Ireland. 

As soon as he attained the summit of his ambition, he gave the 
rein to his despotic disposition. He banished all the adherents of 
his predecessor out of the kingdom ; and in order to cut off all the 
pretenders to the crown, he commenced a fierce and tyrannic per- 
secution against his relatives, who were of the posterity of Ith ; and 
by terror and force succeeded in driving their chiefs to exile in 
Albania. But his despotism was gradually sapping the pillars of his 
own arbitrary power. 

The rebellious arm of Olioll, the son of Slanoil, hurled him from 
the throne to the tomb, in the tenth year of his oppressive reign. 
Olioll, on ascending the throne, manifested a disposition to govern 
his people according to the behests of justice, and spirit of the con- 
stitution. But his intentions were blasted in the bud, in the twelfth 
year of his reign, by the tempest of insurrection, raised by Siorna of 
the royal race of Heremon, who succeeded, once more, at the battle 
of Nobber,* in wresting the supreme power from the dynasty of 
OUarah Fodhla. Olioll and all his leaders were killed in the engage- 
ment. Thus were the sage and benign ordinances and institutions 
of the great Ollamh Fodhia dissolved and subverted by civil broils, 
and the ruthless intrigues of ambition. 

Siorna, having obtained possession of a crown, in pursuit of which 
he had to wade through an ocean of blood, resolved therefore to hold 

tion that they .should for ever daily offer up a mass, in the churches of St. Mary, 
St. Columba, and St. Catharine, for his soul, and the soul of his wife. 

In 1653, Thomas Taylor who was secretary to Sir William Petty, when the latter 
went to Ireland, to make what is called the " Down Survey." In 1660, Taylor 
purchased from Nugent, Lord Delvin, the town and vicinity of Kelts. In 1713, 
his grandson, Robert Taylor was created a Baronet, by Queen Anne. In 1760, his 
son Thomas was raised to the peerage, by the title of Baron Headford in the county 
of Meath. His descendant is now Marquis of Headford. The fine mansion and 
beautiful domain of Headford, in the environs of Kells, present architectural gran- 
deur, and charms of Sylvan scenery, that in beauty and landscape ai,tractions, 
have few equals in Ireland, or any other country. In the Protestant church, we 
observed, a few years ago, a very beautiful monument, erected by Sir Thomas 
Taylor, in 1737 (we think) to the memory of his wife. It is a large Sarcophagus 
of grey G-alway marble, resting on three eagles claws; from it springs a pedestal 
supporting an altar, rearing two Corinthian pillars, which sustain a Roman urn of 
Italian marble, exquisitely sculptured. About a mile beyond the town, in the 
commons of Lloyd, there is a very lofty tower erected by the late Earl of 
Bective, from the top of which a most extensive and diversified prospect can be 
commanded. 

* Nobber is a pretty rural village, in the county of Meath, which will be more 
famous in the records of genius, for giving birth to our great musical composer, 
Carolan, than it is in Irish history, for being the scene of a sanguinary battle. 

The vicinity of Nobber is rendered beautiful and picturesque by the residences, 
and domains of Lord Gormanstown, at Whitewood, of General Bligh at Brittas, 
and of Mr. Cruise, at Cruisetown, where Carolan first borrowed inspiration from 
the lips of love, and gave his heart as a hostage to the captivating charms of 
Bridget Cruise. 



91 

in a tenacious tenure, the darling object that he gained with so much 
difficulty and danger. He, consequently, to secure the prize, adopted 
such measures as he and his advisers deemed best calculated for 
crushing faction, and guarding his throne from the hostile attacks 
of pretenders. This he could only accomplish by keeping constantly 
on foot a military force. Having assiduously endeavoured to ingra- 
tiate himself with the army, he soon became very popular among 
them. His military skill, and prepossessing manners, seemed to 
have destined him to command, while they served to give him a 
preponderating influence in the camp, and in the council. Against 
such a monarch, treason, for a while, durst not raise a menacing 
finger. At length, however, he was secretly apprised, that the 
Irians, or posterity of Ir, WQve sowing the seeds of disaffection in 
Ulster. Considering that a flame of sedition was more easily extin- 
guished than a blaze of revolt, he quickly put himself at the head of 
his devoted army, and marched into JJlster. The Irian chiefs hear- 
ing of his approach, lost no time in concentrating their adherents, in 
order to put themselves in a bold defensive attitude, and oppose a 
formidable front to the hostile hosts, that threatened them with 
slavery and oppression. 

Tlie Irians made those preparations which a brave people, who 
prize their liberties dearer than life, ought to make to resist an 
invader who would only requite a tame submission, by yoking the 
abject dependants crouching to him, in the car of slavery. An 
engagement soon took place, at Aras Keilter, now Downpatrick;* 

* Downpatrick, the capital of the county of Down, is one of the most ancient 
cities in Ireland, and consequently its past glories make a distinguished figure in 
Irish history. The majestic and reverend ruins of its seven churches, and numerous 
abbeys proclaim its pristine grfeatness, and architectural grandeur. It was made a 
Bishop's see by St. Patricia, who built the large cathedral, A. D. 445, which is now 
a heap of hoary ruins, where only the owl chants the vesper anthem. 

At his own request, expressed before his death, wliich memorable event happen- 
ed on the 17th of March, 493, St. Patrick was buried in the chancel of this cathe- 
dral. His remains were afterwards enclosed in a magnificent tomb, erected by 
MuRTAGH O'NiAL, mouarch of Ireland, A. D. 500. To this tomb, to which 
several kings and queejis made pilgrimages of devotion, and splendid gifts of piety , 
were subsequently transferred the remains of St. Columba, and St. Bridget, as the 
inscription, which was read by Geraldus Cambrensis, in 1173, recorded. 

" Hi tres in Duno tumulo, tumulantar in uno, 

Brigida, Pafricius atque Coluviba Pius.'" 
Which has thus been translated by the celebrated Bishop Coyle. — 

" In Down three saints one grave doth fill, 

Bridget, Patrick and Columb-Kille." 
The richness of the shrines of these saints attracted the rapacity of Turgesius, 
the cruel Danish tyrant, who defaced the monument, and carried off the ornaments 
and costly vessels of the sacred sepulchre, A. D. 851. When John De Courcey, 
captured Downpatrick, in 1186, he, to impress, more strongly, the Irish with an 
exalted idea of his sanctity, and of the reverence in which he held the relics of their 
saints, caused the tomb to be elegantly repaired, and embellished with all the 
beauties of architecture and sculpture. A solemn funeral service took place on 
this occasion, in the Cathedral, at which Cardinal Vivian, legate of the apostolic 
see ; the Bishop of Armagh, his suffragans, as well as the Bishop of London, and 
many other ecclesiastical dignitaries assisted. Colgan and Harris say that this im- 
posing religious ceremony, was the most sublime spectacle which had ever been 
witnessed in Ulster, and that it had the effect of multiplying the friends of the 
English amazingly in Ireland. In 1203, king John becoming jealous of the power 



92 

but in spite of the valour and intrepidity of the gallant Irians, the 
military genius of the king, and discipline of his troops gave him a 
decisive victory, which prostrated the hopes of the Uitonians. 
Flushed with success, and animated with amhition, the monarch then 
turned his arms against Loagaire, the son of Lughaidh, of the race 
of Heber, who with his forces, and a band of Carthaginians, his 
allies, were marching to the assistance of the Irians. This array, 
though strongly posted on a rocky eminence, which was swept on 
one side by the sea, in the neighbourhood of Killough,* he spiritedly 

and popularity which De Coukcey possessed in Ireland, issued a commission to 
Hugh De Burgo, and Walter De Lacy, to arrest De Cource}' on a charge of high 
treason ; but though they quickly proceeded to execute the gratifying orders of 
the king, with which they hoped to crush a rival, they could not effect their object 
without resorting to treachery. They succeeded, however, by bribes and promises 
to corrupt the fidelity of his followers and attendants. De Courcey was in the 
constant habit of offering up his prayers, every morning, in the Cathedra], before 
the shrine of St. Patrick. While he ivas one day in this act of devotion, De Burgo 
and Lacy, with a chosen band of assassins, attacked and killed some of his retinue. 
The brave unarmea chieftain seeing himself thus beset with danger, immediately, 
with his usual prowess, v/rested a large wooden cross from the aisle, with which 
lie so heroically defended himself, that he soon killed thirteen of his cowardly 
assailants ; but at length he was overpowered by the strength of numerical force, 
and conveyed as a prisoner to London, where he was confined in the tower. In 
its proper place we shall relate more of the adventures of the illustrious Baron of 
Kinsale. The see of Down was united to that of Connor, in the county of Antrim, 
A. D. 1442, when the Bishop assumed the title of the Bishop of Down and 
Connor. Leonard Lord de Grey, while Lord Deputy of Ireland, plundered and 
profaned in 1536, the Cathedral of St. Patrick, which sacrilegious act was set 
forth in the articles of his impeachment, before he was beheaded, A. D. 1541. 
We will have occasion, in the course of this history, to speak often of Down- 
patrick, — for it has been the scene of important historical events. The ruins of 
the priory of Malachy, founded by Malachy O'Morgair, Bishop of Down, A. D. 
1138, those of the priory of St. John the Baptist, erected by De Courcey, 1186, as 
well as those of an abbey of Cistertian monks, and a friary of the Franciscan order, 
are still remaining as evidences of the ancient piety, and architectural celebrity of 
Downpatrick. Its modern buildings are very creditable to the taste of its spirited 
inhabitants. The court house is a large and elegant Ionic structure. 

Downpatrick is a large borough and market town, agreeably situated on the S. 
W. branch of the lake of Strangford, at the distance of ninety-four miles from 
Dublin. The environs of the town, are beautified with a pleasing variety of wood 
and water, and the houses and cultivated grounds that are interspersed through an 
extensive landscape of green hills, and pastoral glens, impart the vivid tints of the 
picturesque and romantic to the sylvan scene. 

Adjoining the town there is one of those high Raths, or mounds, which are so 
common in Ireland ; — its conical height is sixty-three feet, and its circumference 
is twenty-one hundred. It is circumvested with three concentric ramparts, one 
of which is thirty feet broad. We must not forget to mention, that the noble 
vestiges of Saul monastery, M'hich was the favorite abode of St. Patrick, are still 
to be seen near the town. There is a limpid well springing up through a rock, at 
this monastery, which tradition records, was excavated by the Saint's own hands. 
On every Patrick's day, the peasantry of Down, came a great distance to drink, 
what they consider, the miraculous water of the holy well. 

* Killough stands on the north of St. John's Point, in the bay of Strangford. 
It has the advantage of a fine commodious harbour, where large ships can safely 
ride quite close to the quay. It is a neat flourishing town, where trade and indus- 
try accumulate wealth for the inhabitants. Their fish market is one of the best in 
Ireland. There is a remarkable well here, called St. Scordin's; and its water 
cannot be equalled for pellucidness, or lightness. It gushes out of a high rocky 
bank, like streams of dissolved crystal. Killough is also celebrated for a rocky 
oblong cavern, from whence, at the ebbing and flowing of the tide, a strange 
noise is heard, somewhat resembling the sound of a huntsman's horn. 

In the neighbourhood of this town, there are some pretty domains and country 



93 

attacked, and succeeded in dislodging them. The Carthaginian 
chief, Ciasral, was killed in the conflict by the king's hand, and 
many of his soldiers, in their endeavour to escape to their shipping, 
were drowned. 

After these exploits, which reflected such glory on his arms, the 
monarch returned in triumph to Tara. But to prove the instability 
of royal power, and that the firmest throne rests but on a slippery 
foundation, Siorna was slain while attempting to quell a revolt in 
Meath by his successor, Aillin Rotheachta, in the twenty-first year 
of his reign. Our historians have warmly lauded the wisdom, 
prudence, and eminent martial talents of Siorna. He was designat- 
ed Saoghalach, or the long-lived, from his having, if we can credit 
the book of Lecan, attained the great age of one hundred and fifty 
years. 

Rotheachta II. was proclaimed sovereign ; but not by the voice 
of the people, who were warmly attached to the person and govern- 
ment of the late king, whose death they deeply bewailed. To 
Rotheachta II. our historians attribute the invention of war-chariots, 
which throws a great halo of memorable notoriety on the era of his 
reign, A. M. 3244. These superb chariots, being winged with sharp 
scythes and grappling hooks, were calculated to do dreadful execu- 
tion in battle. We have already alluded to the expertness and 
bravery of the Irish charioteers, and knights, who fought with long 
spears in these kind of chariots. The Gauls, in the year of Rome, 
456, employed Irish artists to build war-chariots for them, which 
they subsequently and effectually employed against the Romans, as 
Csesar tells us. 

After a reign of seven years, distinguished by the progress of the 
arts, and the blessings of peace, Rotheachta was killed by lightning, 
while hunting in the forest of Tara. 

villas, among the most attractive of which, are the ornamented manor, and mag- 
nificent and superb mansion of Lord CliiFord. Here we have admired — 

" The cultur'd garden, richly grac'd. 

With all the labored charms of taste ; 

The calm deep grove, the limpid tide, 

The verdant mead, and landscape wide." 
Balee and Hollymount have also rural fascinations, that have been consecrated 
by the voice of song, and celebrated by the pencil of genius. 



CHAPTER XL 

Reflections on the dissensions and intestine commotions of the ancient Irish ; — their 
true cmise defined. The reigns of Elim, Giallacha, and Art. The ancient mode 
of fortification. Reigns of JYuadh, Breasrigh, and Eochaidh IV. The intercourse 
between Ireland and Carthage in ancient times. The accession of Fion, Seadhna 
II. Simon-Breac, Duach, and Muiredheach, to the Irish throne. The reign of 
Eadlbna II. and a dissertation on the mines and minerals of Ireland. 

The reader who has honoured the preceding chapters of this 
history, with a perusal, must have been surprised at the fatal feuds 
and bloody strife that scattered the unnatural and sanguinary mise- 
ries and calamities of civil war through Ireland, for a period of near 
three centuries. But though the gloomy records of those internal 
divisions, and melancholy discords, detail events that shock and 
sicken humanity, they are not still without numerous parallels in 
the history of every other nation in Europe. This assertion is 
raised by Voltaire, Hume, Robertson, and Sir Walter Scott, to a 
pinnacle of truth, which is too elevated for the assaults of objection. 
These historians furnish us with horrid recitals, equalling certainly, in 
the cruelty and barbarity which they unfold, the most atrocious deeds 
that stain our annals, of their Princes murdering each other, in 
order to succeed to sovereign power. We find the royal rivals of 
Scotland and England, even in comparatively enlightened periods, 
guilty of inhuman enormities and stupendous wickedness, in their 
sanguinary career, to the gaol of regal authority, which surpass the 
blackest and most barbarous crimes that have been imputed by his- 
tory, to the heathen kings of Ireland. The ancient Irish princes 
were idolatrous worshippers of military glory and heroic courage ; 
these were the divinities to whom they sacrificed the love of life, and 
every selfish consideration. For the moment a chieftain betrayed a 
symptom of pusillanimity in the martial field, he was debased; his 
name was obliterated from the emblazoned record of the valiant, 
and the herald broke his escutcheon and trampled his banner in the 
dust, in the presence of all his companions in arms. To evade this 
degradation, the chivalric Milesians entered the field of battle fully 
resolved to conquer their adversaries, or fall in the struggle covered 
with glory ; as life without victory was not, in their opinion, worth 
preserving. To outlive the blaze of heroic fame, after being extin- 
guished by defeat, was counted infamous, so that none of the Mile- 
sian Princes survived the loss of a battle. 

The Irish Princes scorned to enjoy existence encumbered with 
the reproach of being vanquished; consequently, with a view of 
consecrating their posthumous fame to the " light of song," they 
always fought with the most desperate resolution and valour. " A 
coward," says Dr. Warner, " was looked upon among the Irish, as 
the most ignominious of all characters ; and the opinion of their 
chieftains, of martial valour, which was carried to the highest pitch 
of enthusiasm, made it extremely difficult to bring about a recon- 
ciliation after a quarrel. For each party dreaded the name of a 



95 

dastard, if the.y made the first overtures of peace, so no overtures 
were made at all, but the quarrel continued from father to son, and 
very seldom ended but with the entire extinction of one of the 
families." 

Indeed our chieftains were always distinguished for their " longing 
after immortality," and considered military fame as the only badge 
of honour and eminence ; and hence they circumscribed their system 
of politics and religion, within the compass of a short but an emphatic 
motto, on their banners, " Glory is preferable to the would !" * 
Still their wars were not the conflicts of savage barbarians, in which 
no character can be traced except those of revenge, havoc, and 
perfidy; no, they exhibited in their fights magnanimous feats of 
chivalry, and displayed that heroic courage which is too generous to 
yield to resentment, or stoop to the ignoble revenge of trampling on 
a prostrate foe. 

But even if we had no proofs on record, to attest this chivalric 
prodigality of existence, the calumnies of Hume and Macpherson, 
would still evidently militate against the deductions of reason, and 
the testimony of universal history, when they endeavour to fasten 
on the memory of our ancestors the degrading imputation of " savage 
barbarity,^'' and to caricature our heroes as little-minded assassins, 
like their own Richards, Henries, and Macbeths.t The rival pre- 

* Constitutional pride, joined to innate bravery, seem to have been ever the 
characteristics of the Irish nation. This pride, constantly fed by the poems of 
the bards, and by the reflection of their high antiquity and noble blood, made 
them at all times, even to our own days, ready to sacrifice every other considera- 
tion to it. The unhappy differences that first broke out in Ireland, in the very 
infancy of the Milesian government, were constantly kept alive from the same 
cause. The line of Heber, as being the elder branch of the Milesian stocli, 
imagined they had an exclusive right to the Irish monarchy. The other branches 
of the posterity of Heremon contended, on the contrary, that in a government 
vi'here superior abilities were ever preferred to lineal succession, their claims 
vs^ere unexceptionable ; as it is often the case in private quarrels between people 
equally brave and proud, neither will recede ; so with these, it would be deemed 
infamy in any successor to recede in the least from the pretensions of his house, 
or to omit any opportunity of enforcing them. 

Yet even in these civil commotions (generally the most sanguinary) there 
were observed a conduct peculiarly striking, which seemed to elevate their char- 
acters beyond those of their neighbouring nations. In a word, not to multiply 
instances, but a single exomple occurs in the whole of our history, of a Prince's 
surviving the loss of his diadem, and this was Malachy 11. in the commencement 
of the eleventh century ! — Thus the death of the unsuccessful competitor, instead 
of being a stain on our annals, only higher blazons the national character of the 
Irish Princes. Add to this that ancient history in general, shows that few gallant 
Princes died peaceable deaths, which gave occasion to the remarks of Juvenal : — 
"Ad generum Cercris, sine caede et vulnere pauci 
Descendunt reges, et sicca morte tyranni." O'Halloran. 

t The Scottish historians look at Irish failings through the false telescope of 
prejudice ; they paint our virtues on miniature medallions, and our vices oniroad 
canvass. They point out the mote in our eyes, while they forget having beams 
in their own. The path which led to the throne of modern Scotland, was as 
often washed with the blood, and paved with the carcasses of kings, as that of 
Ireland, as the following evidence will testify : — 

" The nobles were often mutinous, revengeful, and ungovernable ; so that they 
were apt to forget the duty which they owed their sovereign, and to aspire beyond 
the rank of subjects. Never was any race of monarchs so unfortunate as the 
Scottish. Of six successive Princes, from Robert III. to James VI. not one died 
a natural death." — Robertson. 



96 

tensions of the dynasties of Heber and Heremon, we must admit, 
like the feuds of the Houses of York and Lancaster, were for many 
centuries, the prolific and pestiferous source of desolation and discord 
in Ireland ; and their jealousies and fatal disunion, not only frequent- 
ly deluged the country in blood, but ultimately so debilitated her 
power that she was humiliated to the degradation of bending the 
knee of obeisance before the throne of a foreign conqueror. The 
posterity of Heber, as the elder branch of the Milesian race, claimed 
a prior right to the sovereign prerogative ; while the house of Here- 
mon proudly rested its permanent claims, not only on the rights of 
blood but on the legitimate and indefeas^ible right of conquest, so 
that this indiscerptible basis of the Heremonian pretensions to the 
Irish throne, remained unmoved amidst the tempestuous surges of 
ages, like the solid and majestic rocks, that raise their ponderous cliffs 
above the raging waves of the ocean, until intestine treason and foreign 
invasion dissolved the monarchy of Ii eland, in 1172. Thus fell the 
glories of the O'Neil — thus did ruthless discord crumble their throne 
sceptre into dust ! The voice of the patriotic bard no longer kindles 
the soul of the Irish brave, nor hurries them to the field of fame, 
while burning with the inspiration of freedom. Ah, no ! The soul- 
lifting muse of MooRE, the patriotic genius of Lady Morgan, and 
the heart-moving eloquence of Shiel, cannot awake the " dreamless" 
sleep of the tomb. The stars of the red-branch have fallen ; the sun 
of our glory is set, and the battles of the Irish brave have terminated 
in English subjugation ! 

The reader will pardon a digression into which we were led by 
our desire to wipe away, as far as our hun)ble efforts can, the 
reproach which foreign historians have endeavoured to fiisten on the 
memory of our ancestors. We wish to vindicate the conduct of 
those who cannot speak for themselves, and extenuate their imputed 
faults by the enumeration of the causes which produced them. But 
let us return to our annals. 

RoTHEACHTA II. having been killed by a flash of lightning, as 
related in the conclusion of our last chapter, his son Elibi ascended 
the throne of his ancestors. Our annalists furnish ns with no particu- 
lars of the reign of this prince, except that he was cut off by the 
sword of his successor Giallacha, before he had terminated the first 
year of his sovereign sway. Giallacha, who was a brave and en- 
lightened Prince, governed the country with prudence and justice, 
for nine years; at the termination of which period, he fell in an 
engagement with Art, the son of Elim. Art, on taking possession 
of the throne, assured the estates at Tara, that he was determined to 
rule over his people in such a manner as would endear him to their 
affections. The commencement of his reign afforded proofs of the 
sincerity of his professions, and every act of his administration 
demonstrated the warmth of his solicitude for the prosperity of the 
nation. Under his auspices, the arts began to revive, and the spirit 
of the monarch seemed to have animated the whole national mind. 
Agriculture filled the fields Avith the gifts of Ceres and Pomona: 
education expanded the powers of the mind, and architecture beau- 
tified the country with military and civil structures. 



97 

It was in the reign of this Prince, that fortifications were first 
introduced in Ireland. Positions formed by nature for advantageous 
miUtary stations, were surrounded by ramparts and deep trenches, 
and on an eminence in the area, was raised a high mound, or fort, 
called the Rath. Near the Rath were the barracks for the soldiers, 
constructed of wood and clay, and under it was a cave formed of 
stone, in which deep wells were dug to supply the garrison with 
water in case of seige. Another species of fortification was also 
invented by this monarch for the security of his armies and kingdom. 
The Dun was a rocky eminence, which was enclosed by entrench- 
ments formed of large rough stones, and mounds of earth, of a square 
or oval form. The name o^ Dun was given by the ancient Irish to 
any entrenchment, whose area within was raised high, in order that 
their archers and slingers might annoy an enemy more advantage- 
ously from its summit. All these military stations were supplied 
with spring water by subterraneous aqueducts. Our historians do 
not tell us the number of fortifications he caused to be erected ; but 
there is no doubt that in aftertimes the Raths, Duns, and Babhatis,* 
were multiplied to a numerous aggregate, as we believe there are 
ten of these immense mounds in every county in Ireland. From hia 
taste in military architecture, and his skill in hydraulics, he was 
called Imlioch, or the source of water. But all his improvements in 
the arts, or all his parental justice in governing the nation, could not 
secure him from the arm of revolt. In the twelfth year of his reign, 
NuADH Fionn-Fail, of the race of Heremon, raised the banner of 
insurrection, and succeeded in depriving the magnanimous Art of 
his life and crown, at the battle of Rathlin, A. M. 3273. 

NuADH Fionn-Fatl, after gaining the croNvn, displayed nothing 
in his administration of fourteen years, of any moment. But at the 
end of that period he was roused from liis sluggish apathy by the 
rebellion of Breasrigh, the grand-son of Art. The competitors, as 
usual, decided their pretensions to the throne by the issue of a san- 
guinary battle, in which the reigning monarch was vanquished and 
slain. 

As soon as Breasrigh was invested with regal authority, he 
adopted every measure of prudence and policy to secure the stability 
of his government. He augmented his army, and erected many 
new fortresses in different parts of the kingdom, in order to be pre- 
pared for the attack of either a domestic or a foreign foe. In the 
fourth year of his reign, a considerable armament of Cathaginians 

* " The Bahhan was a defile or pass, secured with thick ditches of earth, im- 
paled with wooden stakes, or the branches of trees, and surrounded with a deep 
trench, over which there was a draw-bridge. The Bnghail was an inclosure, 
constructed of large posts and wicker-work to surround their camps and secure 
them from surprise: this species of military architecture, as well as the Ingletdh, 
which were barriers of large trees thrown across the roads, in order to obstruct the 
progress of an enemy, originated in the first century. The mote or inoth/i was the 
entrenchment which encircled the Dun : whence moth.ar in modern Irish signifies 
an enclosed park, and mothaa. mound. The Ban was the rampart which enclosed 
the Dun, and generally situated within the mote. The Uagli was the cave or 
cellar where the provisions were kept, and where the garrison retired in case of 
danger. Many of these caves are still to be seen in Ireland." — Hist, of the rise 
and progress of military architecture in Ireland, Vol. II. page 158. 

13 



98 

invested the northern coasts, and ravaged many districts of Ulster. 
These enterprising people, at length growing bold with success, 
and more avaricious of increasing their booties, made excursions far - 
into the interior of the country. The Irish monarch, collecting all 
his forces at Tara, speedily marched to the camp of the invaders, 
which he stormed, and after encountering a brave resistance from 
the foe, he succeeded in expelling them to their ships. The arms 
and spoils which he captured in the Carthaginian camp, were of 
immense value. The victorious monarch returned in triumph to 
Tara, where he caused the people and the army to join in celebrat- 
ing his success by the exhibition of public games, processions, and 
festivities. After these events, no occurrence of historical note 
happened until the ninth year of his reign, when an insurrection, 
planned by Eochaidh IV. of the line of Ith, summoned him to the 
martial field of Carnchluairi, in Meath, where he fell by the sword 
of his successor. The reign of Eochaidh IV. which lasted but one 
year, forms a memorable epoch in our annals, by the destructive 
plague that then visited Ireland, and swept away half its population. 
But fearful and fatal as the epidemic calamity w^as, it did not still 
deter ambition from aspiring to the crown. 

FioNN, the son of Bratha, af the dynasty of Ir, collected a force,, 
with which he attacked and defeated the monarch, who fell in the 
first engagement with his rival, A. M. 3297. The conqueror Fionn, 
after a reign of twenty years, undistinguished in history, was in his 
turn slain in battle, by his successor, Seadhna Jonoraice, who 
mounted the throne, A. M. 3318. He received the appellation of 
Jonoraice, in consequence of his being the first monarch of Ireland 
that regulated the fixed pay of the array by a royal ordinance. He 
was a prince eminent for his literary, as well as his military talents. 
The treatise which he wrote on military discipline and tactics, was 
as remarkable for the graces of its style, as for the depth of martial 
knowledge, that pervaded that admired composition, which remain- 
ed for ages subsequently, as a standard of military jurisprudence^ 
for the Irish army. 

He caused many forges to be established for the fabrication of 
arms, after the fashion of the lances and swords of the Carthaginians; 
Many of the swords of this fabric, which have been found in several 
bogs in Ireland, bore such an exact and surprising similarity to 
those discovered buried in the plains of Cannae, and now deposited 
in the British Museum, that several learned antiquarians before whom 
both swords have been assayed and analyzed, have declared that 
they must have come from the same mint. " They are," says the 
report of the London Assay Master, A. D. 1789, " a mixture of cop- 
per, iron, and zinc. They take an exquisite fine polish, and carry a 
very sharp edge, and are firm and elastic. They are so peculiarly 
formed, as to resist any kind of rust, as appears by two presented by 
Lord Milion, which were dug up in the bog of Cullen, county of 
Dublin, after lying there for many ages."* 

" Sir Lawrence Parsons, in his learned and elegant defence of the ancient 
history of Ireland, observes, that at an early period of the world, the Phoenicians 
made a settlement in Ireland, and immediately, or by degrees, completely subjugat- 



99 

Notwithstanding the beneficial institutions of Seadhna, and the 
justice of his government, he was doomed to experience the same 
fate as his royal predecessors, with the memorable exception that the 
manner of his death was signally different and unprecedently cruel 
and inhuman. He was, while unarmed, taken by surprise, by Simon 
Breac, or the speckled, who, with a refinement of cruelty equal to 
the barbarity of him who stretched his victim on his lacerating bed, 
caused the unhappy monarch's limbs to be rent asunder by a machine, 
which he had constructed to gratify his diabolical vengeance. 

This sanguinary and relentless tyrant, after an oppressive reign 
of six years, was totally defeated by Duach, the son of Seadhna, 
who, in accordance with the laws of retributive justice, inflicted on 
him the same species of torture, to which the despot had consigned 
his father. 

Duach's accession to the throne was hailed by the unanimous 
approbation of the nation, and during a peaceable, prosperous, and 
salutary reign of ten years, he evinced all the royal virtues that can 
shed lustre on a throne, or give additional eminence to regal station. 
But neither the magnanimity of his conduct, nor the amiability of 
his disposition had, in the hour of revolt, any avail in averting the 
arm of aspiring ambition. Muiredheach, the son of the tyrant 
Simon, overthrew and killed the monarch in an engagement, A. M. 
3354. 

Muiredheach mounted the throne in direct opposition to the 
wishes of the Irish people, who dreaded that he would follow in the 
despotic and sanguinary career of his arbitrary father; — but fortunate- 
ly ere he had time to give the rein of absolute sway to his tyrannic 
inclinations, he fell a sacrifice to the just vengeance of Eadhna II. 
the son of Duach, " the good monarch," as he was emphatically 
denominated by the voice of the nation. 

ed the countrj;, and established in the Island their laws, religion, and language : — 
this elegant writer supports his hypothesis by observing, that the Carthaginians 
originally came from Phcenicia and spoke the Phoenician language; that a speci- 
men of that language has been preserved by Plautus, in one of his plaj's, which 
contains some speeches of Hanno, a Carthaginian, in the language of liis country, 
which he says, appears, upon examination, to be the same dialect as the Irish. 

In farther corroboration of the eastern origin of the Irish, the discovery of Car- 
thaginian swords in the bogs of Ireland has been adduced. General Campbell is 
in possession of one of the swords found near Armagh : — it is made of brass, about 
twenty inches long, two inches broad, having small holes in the handle, supposed 
to have been perforated for the purpose of admitting thongs to be fastened to them; 
which size and marks correspond precisely with the swords found on the plains of 
Cannae, as I have been informed by an intelligent friend, who had an opportunity 
of comparing the former with the latter, which he saw in several of the museums 
in Italy. The facts are curious, and the deductions are, at least, ingenious." 
Stranger in Ireland. 

" Governor Pownal, in his account of Irish antiquities, read before the English 
antiquarian society, in 1774, compared some old Irish swords found at a great 
depth, in the bog of Allen, with those in the British Museum, and was surprised 
at their likeness^and exact correspondence in formation and metal." — Vallancey. 

'• But as our annals particularly remark on the abundance of mines and miner- 
als in our country, and the ingenuity of our artists, the candid reader will agree 
with me, I think, that the Carthaginians imported their swords from us in the course 
of traffic, as Ireland was in this reign, unequalled for the elegant fabric of arms." 
-O'Halloran. 



100 

EADHNA-Dcar^, (or the red, which he was called from his fresh 
and ruddy complexion) assumed sovereign authority under the most 
flattering auspices; the remembrance of his father's virtues prepos- 
sessed all classes in his favour, and rendered him the object of national 
reverence and regard. Tlie subsequent conduct of the monarch 
indeed realized the brilliant hopes of the people, and convinced them 
that he inherited the amiable qualities of his royal sire, as well as 
his crown and honours. 

To this monarch our historians impute the invention of current 
coin in Ireland. They state that he caused a mint to be erected at 
Ross, in the county of Wexford,* where vast quantities of gold and 
silver bullion were melted down in the royal crucibles. Ireland 
abounded with mines of gold and silver, in ancient times, as the various 
crowns, shields, goblets, and armour of these precious metals, which 
have been discovered in different parts of the kingdom, demonstrate, 
with a force of evidence that cannot l)e impeached. t 

AVe are told by Sir James Ware, that in the year 1639, an urn 
full of the coins of this monarch, were discovered in a Druidical 
cave, in the county of Wicklow. These coins were of silver, and as 
large as an English shilHng ; on one side was the impression of the 

* The village of Ross, which has dwindled to decay, is beautifully situated on 
the confluence of the rivers Suire and Barrow, in the county of Wexford, at the 
distance of 89 miles from Dublin. The country here is romantic and picturesque, 
and the prospect that the traveller, who ascends faiz/(/e^ hill, can command of Water- 
ford harbour, Tramore bay, Duncannon fort, Ballyhack, and Passage, new Ross, and 
the extensive chain of mountains of Tipperary, Wicklow, Kilkenny, Carlo w, and the 
Kings' and Queens' County, brings within a charming coup d' ociL, as interesting a 
landscape as Italy can present. There are several monastic ruins in Ross, partic- 
ularly those of the abbey of St. Augustine, erected by Sir John Devereux, A. D. 
1213. Near Ross, at Tintern, are also the magnificent remains of the abbey which 
the Earl of Pembroke founded in 1200. The rich fiossessions of this abbey were 
granted by Queen Elizabetlr to Colonel Gore, whose descendants afterwards were 
created Earls of Ross. Ross was the scene of the sanguinary conflict between the 
deluded but brave insurgents of 1798, and the royal army, in wl»ich more than 
2,000 human beings lost their lives ! 

t " In many of the Irish bogs have been discovered numerous and ponderous 
ornamenls of gold and silver, such as fibulae, clasps, buckles, bracelets, anklets, 
sandals, frontlets, lunettes, tankards, trumpets, weapons, and cups, several of which 
are of elegant workmanship, and give a high idea of the wealth, skill and taste of 
the ancient Irish.:''— Stranger in Ireland. 

" Herodotus affirms that the Carthaginians effected a landing in a remote Atlan- 
tic Isle, and established a, colony in it; and that vast quantities of gold, silver, and 
precious stones, were exported annually from it to the parent city."— Lynch.' 

"There can be no doubt of the early use of trade and of money in Ireland, into 
which it is probable it was introduced, as soon as it was frequented by the Phcsni- 
cians. Before the reign of Eocluddk IV. the Irish made their payments of gold and 
silver in bars and ingots, with which their rich mines supplied them."— Antiquities 
of Wales, Vol. I. p. 181. 

" The massy gold and silver chalices, candlesticks, plate, utensils, ornaments, 
and images of saints, seized by the crov/n, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in the 
Irish abbeys, brought more than one million sterling to the exchequer." — Cambden. 

" In ancient times, gems must have been abundant in Ireland, as some golden 
crowns lately found in digging in bogs, were enriched with large rubies, topazes, 
amethysts and sapphire pebbles of great value."— fris/i Geolomi, London Edition, 
1797, page 59. -^ 

" Long before the birth of Christ, the Irish had stamped money, and their artists 
seem to have been as unrivalled in the fabrication of metals, as they confessedly 
were in lignarian architecture, and martial music." — Bishop Nicholson. 



101 

monarch's head, and on the reverse, Hibernia bearing in her hand 
the wand entwined with a serpent- Some of these coins are preserv- 
ed in the cabinets of the antiquarians, and two of them are to be 
seen in the museum of the university of Dublin. 

In 1812, some men who were digging in a field in Glanmirc,* a 
fairy valley, in the county of Cork, found an ancient gold coin, as 
large as a guinea, which, by the inscription, appeared to have been 
coined in the reign of Cathair, who was monarch of Ireland, A. D. 
151. The impression on one side was a human head encircled with 
a knight's helmet, and on the reverse, a war-horse gorgeously 
caparisoned. We believe that this valuable antique is at present in 
the hands of the Earl of Shannon. Every writer since the days of 
Gerald Barry, who visited our country, has admitted that her soil is 
stored with the most precious mines, and minerals. In ancient times, 
it will be seen, these mines were industriously explored and worked 
with unwearied spirit ; the cause of their long neglect is owing to the 
studied misgovernment, and aggressive system of monopoly, to the 

* Having occasion to speak of the romantic vale of Glanmire, in the text, we 
think we will enliven the interest of historical narrative, by giving a topographical 
sketch of it to our readers. The pastoral valley of Glanmire is situated three 
miles east of the city of Cork ; a meandering rivulet, after gliding smoothly through 
its flower spangled meadows, drops its tributary streams into the harbour. In this 
secluded glen, where Byron would love to woo the epic muse, and Petrarch to 
whisper the soft words of passion to his Laura, are interspersed two rural villages, 
upper and lower Glanmire, the latter of which, seated on gentle acclivities, rising 
above the head of the creek, at the distance of a mile from its conflux with the 
harbour, present landscape features, which a Poussin might contemplate with 
delight. Surrounded on all sides by an assemblage of verdant hills, garnished 
with wood, they form every rural and picturesque variety that can unite in the 
composition of a pleasing sylvan scene. In some places appear nai-row glens, the 
bottoms of which are filled with pellucid water, whilst the steep emerald banks are 
draped with an umbrageous tapestry of variegated tints, that throv/ a foliaceous 
shade over these grassy sofas, which the solar beams cannot penetrate. In other 
parts, the vale opens to form the site of a pretty cheerful village overhung by 
impending hills and undulating woods, from whence the green shore gradually 
rises into large enclosures, speckled with white houses, like pearls set in emerald. 
In this charming retreat, where a pilgrim might give up his soul to holy musings, 
and a hermit look with contempt on the vanities and pleasures of the busy world, 
are several elegant villas, especially Lota, which stands at the termination of a fine 
vista, looking towards Cork, formed by rows of elm and beech trees. Before this 
solitary Tusculanum, is a fine, flower-gemmed lawn, fringed by a ' garniture of 
groves,' while the improved pleasure grounds in the rear, consisting of a domain 
of one hundred acres, add a new and attractive beauty to the tout ensemble of the 
landscape, and form a fine and imposing accompaniment to the sylvan woods and 
lawns of Dunkettle, Richmond, and Ballyroshien, on the opposite banks of the 
creek. 

The town of Glanmire contains about fifty houses, and a church, which was 
originally built by John Roche, A. D. 1349. In the cemetery of this church, which 
serves for the sepulchral ground of the deceased of the whole parish of Caherly, is 
an elegant monument of white marble ; commemorative of the virtues of Arch- 
deacon Corker, who died rector of this parish in 1789. On the sai'cophagus of 
the tomb, in full basso-relievo, is a female figure weeping over a sepulchral urn 
placed on a Roman pedestal, the dodo of which bears a medallion of the Arch- 
deacon ; under this, on a shield, are the arms of the deceased, beautifully sculp- 
tured, and above, in an oval compartment, within a wreath of laurel, is the in- 
scription. 

Glanmire and the whole district of country thence to Youghal, belonged 
originally to the Irish sept of the O'Lehans, who were dispossessed of their patri- 
monial inheritance, by the Barries, who were officers under Strongbow. 



102 

evils of which England has doomed Ireland for ages; — but we hope 
that HE who broke the chain of religious restriction, will still farther 
entitle himself to the eternal gratitude of his country, and form a 
new epoch in her history, by instigating a research after the treasures 
that are immured in her mountains and plains, and draw from the 
bowels of the earth, those hidden sources of national wealth, to 
enrich the proprietai'y of the soil, extend commerce, promote the 
arts, give a spirit to industry, check emigration to strange climes ; 
and to supply the exigencies of the empire. This glorious task, we 
fondly hope, Daniel O'Connell is yet destined to accomplish. 

Ireland, which was once distinguished for her agricultural oper- 
ations, and excellence in the cultivation of the arts, as for her 
renown in arms, and fame in literature, has, by a fatal concatena- 
tion of internal discord, and English policy, been thrown back a 
century behind many countries which were imm.ersed in barbarism, 
at a proud era, when she was the great emporium of commerce — the 
luminary of science, and the school in whose splendid focus were 
concentrated those radiant beams of philosophy and religion, which 
dispelled the darkness that brooded over European intellect, in the 
fifth and sixth centuries. We trust, however, that English policy, 
can no longer wield the arms of injustice against the prosperity of 
Ireland, or bring the repercussive lever of monoply to bear upon her 
interest and welfare. Too long, alas ! it has been her fated and 
marked destiny, to be, in most public concerns, either cajoled by 
pretenders, defrauded by knaves, or distracted by chimerical dema- 
gogues, in the delusive guise of prudent patriots. But at last, thank 
Heaven ! the able, skilful, and disinterested pilot, O'Connell, has 
steered the storm-shattered bark out of the shoals and quicksands of 
1798, and the breakers and eddies of the disastrous epoch of 1803. 
In addition to the metallic and mineral productions, on which we 
have already descanted, Ireland is pregnant with coal, iron, lead, 
and copper mines, and the celebrity of her noble quarries of marble 
is known to every intelligent reader. 

The most beautiful specimens of this architective and sculptural 
material, are found in the counties of Waterford, Kilkenny, Galway, 
and Meath. Blocks of great magnitude, of jet black marble, sus- 
ceptible of the finest polish, are raised out of the quarries of Water- 
ford : the characteristics of the Kilkenny marble are hardness, and 
brilliancy of streaks, which peculiarly adapt it for the purposes of 
ornamental architecture ; the Gahvay production is distinguished for 
its pure whiteness, as well as for the massy magnitude of the ponder- 
ous pillars it has furnished to some of the most elegant colonnades in 
the kingdom ; the Meath marble, of the famous quarry of Ardbraccan, 
near the town of Navan,* is esteemed the best in the kingdom for 

* Navan, a considerable town in the county of Meath, 29 miles from Dublin, is 
pleasantly situated on the conflux of the rivers Boyne and Blackwater, in the 
midst of a rich and picturesque country, whose scenery is diversified with baronial 
castles, monastic ruins, and waving forests. 

Navan was a place of great note in ancient times. Malachy, king of Meath, 
erected an abbey here, A. D. 1008, and after the invasion, Hugh De Lacy erected 
and endowed another monastery in this town, which is now a heap of ruins, as is 
that which was built by Jocelyn Nangle, and dedicated to the holy virgin, in the 



103 

building ; it is of a beautiful dove colour, and when polished, it 
developes a variety of tints and ve;ins. Kildare House, formerly the 
princely residence of the Duke of Leinster, but now the Royal 
Dublin Society house, the Provost's mansion at Trinity College, and 
the Richmond Asylum, are the Dublin edifices built of this marble. 

But it is high time that we should conclude our episode and resume 
the thread of our historical narrative. The brilliant reign of Eadhna 
II. which vvas faithfully devoted to the patriotic task of promoting 
the happiness and prosperity of the people, terminated in its twelfth 
year, when the monarch fell a victim to the plague. The death of 
this wise and beneficent Prince, was deeply bewailed by the whole 
nation, which regarded him with reverential affection and enthusias- 
tic devotion. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The reio")is of Lughaidh, Sior-Laimk, Eochaidh V. — Kaval Architecture in Ireland. — - 
JVaval exploits at Dundalk. — The i eigns of Eochaidli VI. and his brother Conning, 
or L2ia-haidh,a?id Art II. — The reigns of Fiacha, Olioll, and Airgeadmhar. — 
The accession of Eochaidh VII., or Duach, and of Lughaidh III. to the Irish 
Throne. 

Prince Ldghaiph, the eldest son of Eadhna^ the late monarch, 
mounted the throne of his ancestors without opposition, A. M. 3397. 
He is distinguished in the royal genealogy of Ireland, by the surname 
o^ Jardhoinn, which signifies, in Irish, the dark brown haired Prince. 
This Prince had a soul inflamed by military ardour, and a passion 
for glory ; and no sooner had he grasped the sceptre of power, than 
he promptly resolved to carry his bold ambitious projects into exe- 
cution. He raised a formidable army, with which he marched into 
Ulster, for the avowed purpose of compelling the Prince of that 
Province to pay him the usual tribute. The Ultonian chieftain, 
considering the demand unwarrantable, appealed to his people, who, 
at his call, rose, en masse, to resist the aggressive invader. A desul- 
tory system of warfare, attended by various success, was carried on 
for years between the belligerants ; but at length, Prince Sior-Laimh, 
(or the long-handed) of the house of Ir, an aspirant to the supreme 
monarchy, warmly espoused the cause of the Ultonians, and soon 

twelfth century. In the cemetery of the latter, are the remains of many ancient 
tombs, whose sculptural decorations present several figures in alto-relievo. On 
every side of this domain-encircled town, the romantic banks of the Boyne and 
Blackwater are embellished with the castles of Ludlow, Liscarton, (the birth-place 
of the celebrated Lord Cadogan) Athlumny, Dunmore, as well as several other 
mansions, among the most elegant of which is the palace of the Bishop of Meath, 
at Ardbraccan, which combines with classic taste, the beauty and lightness of 
lonie architecture. The marble that composes its pillared portico and lofty pediment^ 
was raised out of the famous quarry in its vicinity. This superb structure was 
built by Bishop Maxwell, in 1789, on the ruins of the old cathedral, for Ardbraccan 
was a Bishop's see, until the tenth century. The modern cathedral of the Bishop- 
ric of Meath, stands near the prelate's residence ; but it is a plain building of na 
architectural grandeur. 



104 

turned the tide of fortune in their favour. Lughaidh was vanquished 
in several skirmishes, and obliged to retreat to Clogher,* in the 
county of Tyrone. Scarcely had he encamped here, ere he was 
attacked by Sior-Laimh, at the head of the Ultonians. The battle, 
as usual, was fierce and desperate, and after a heroic resistance, in 
which the courage and valour of the monarch, shone with the brilliant 
splendour of Milesian chivalry, victory, notwithstanding, declared 
itself for the Ultonians. The monarch and his principal officers, fell 
in this sanguinary and decisive conflict. The victorious Sior, after 
rewarding his Ultonian allies for their spirit and bravery proceeded 
to Tara, where the Arch-Druid placed the crown upon his head. 
During the whole period of his reign, tliis monarch missed no oppor- 
tunity of oppressing the descendants of Heber ; but, at length, the 
sword of EocHAiDH, the son of Lughaidh, of the dynasty of Heber, 
terminated his life in battle, in the seventeenth year of his regal 
sway. The victor, Eochaidh Unarcheas, or Eochaidh of the ships, 
was solemnly inaugurated monarch on the stone of destiny, at Tara, 
A. M. 3392. The appellation of Unarcheas was bestowed upon this 
Prince, because during his warfare with his predecessor, Sior, he was 
frequently obliged to embark his forces on board of small skiffs, or 
Currachs, rudely constructed of wattles and horse-hides, which ena- 
bled him in the most stormy seasons, to escape to his large vessels, 
which hovered round the coast, from the pursuit of the royal army. 

That Ireland, even in those early days, had ships of magnitude 
and elegant naval architecture, cannot be denied by any one that 
reflects on the fact, that the art of ship-building was carried to per- 
fection by the early Milesians, who had ships of as great tonnage as 
the Carthaginians. Tacitus is a conclusive evidence, to demonstrate 
the fact of our having large fleets at those periods, when the still 
bosom of the ocean had not yet been furrowed by the keel of a 
British bark. But the species of small boats of which we have 
spoken, were found more useful in facilitating the landing of troops 
on insular stations, or in hurrying their embarkation, in creeks or 
shallows, so as to escape the pursuing foe, than vessels of heavier 
burden. We are told by Csesar, that he employed cribs, or currachs, 
in transporting his soldiers over the rivers in Spain. In the days'of 
this Prince, (Eochaidh) Ireland, Carthage, and Egypt, were the 
three greatest maritime powers in the world. 

* Clogher, is a considerable town, agreeably situated on the winding rivers of 
Launy in the county of Tyrone, at a distance of 104 miles from Dublin. St. 
Patrick made Clogher a Bishop's See, A. D. 467, and ordained St. Mac Cartin, the 
•companion of his travels, as well as his fellow labourer in the vineyard of Chris- 
tianity, the first prelate of it. Our national Apostle remained two years in Clogher, 
to superintend the erection of the Cathedral, and of the abbey, which he dedicated 
to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Cathedral is still in fine preservation, having 
undergone within the last century, several repairs; but in 1396, the abbey was 
reduced by fire to the heap of ruins, that now remains as the monument and 
sepulchre of its former architectural giandeur. The tomb of the M'Kennas, the 
ancient chieftains of Trough, stands in one of the aisles. James I. by a royal 
grant, made to George Montgomery, Bishop of Clogher, invested this see with all 
the lands which belonged originally to the abbey. 

The suburbs of this town are enriched and embellished with the mansioji and 
domains of the Bishop, and Dean of Clogher, and tlie sylvan groves of Fordross 
and Lisborvic, serve to impart additional tints of beauty to the landscape. — Author. 



105 

Bede has honorably admitted, in his Ecclesiastical history of 
Britain, that it was to us England was indebted for their naval and 
mural architecture.* Gildas, of Valentia, in his epistle on Britain, 
written A. D. 560, states, " that the Hibernians had large ships for 
the purposes of war ; but that, in carrying on trade, they conveyed 
their commodities over a sea rough and tempestuous, in wicker boats, 
encompassed with a swelling covering of ox-hides." At the famous 
naval battle, fought in the bay of Dundalk, between the Irish and 
Danes, in the eleventh century, the particulars of which we will 
narrate in its proper place, the Irish fleet consisted of seventy large 
ships. Neither in the voluminous pages of Polybius, nor in the 
whole eloquent tomes of Gibbon, can a feat of such devoted heroism 
and magnanimous patriotism, be found, as will parallel the romantic 
exploit of the Irish Admiral, Fingall, at the Dundalk sea-fight. 

Dr. Warner, the liberal English historian, after giving a circum- 
stantial account of this celebrated marine conflict, says : 

"The contest was hot and bloody; the chief admiral of the Irish 
fleet, Fatlbhe, fell, covered with blood, on the Danish ship Avhich 
he had boarded, and the Danish General being convinced, that upoa 
the loss of his own ship, would, in all probability, follow the loss of 
all his fleet, exerted all his skill and valour, in order to save it : and 
that he might strike terror and dismay into the Irish, he caused the 
head of Failbhe to be cut off", and exposed to view. Fingall, the 
Irish Vice-Admiral, on seeing the horrid spectacle, resolved to 
revenge the death of his late commander, and calling to his men to 
follow him, they boarded the Dane with irresistible fury. The 

* " On the arrival of the Romans, the inhabitants of Britain had few vessels, 
except the small craft employed in fishing and piratical expeditions, to the neigh- 
bouring countries. These vessels seldom exceeded twenty tons burden, were 
constructed of frame timber work, cased with wicker, and lined externally and 
internally, with hides of animals. The sails were of skins, and cordage of thongs. 
They were seldom employed in commerce, which then, and for a century after, 
was principally carried on in Irish bottoms. 

The Romans, in some respects a naval power, increased the shipping, as far ai 
related to trade and commerce, in respect to number, but restricted the size to 
about seventy-eight tons burden, and absolutely prohibited ships of war ; for though 
they had powerful fleets in the British harbours, for the protection of the Island, 
they were either brought from Italy, or purchased from Venetian merchants ; 
consequently, on these vessels being withdrawn, on the departure of the Romans, 
the Britons suffered as much in their maritime affairs, as in other respeets,for their 
native vessels became an easy prey to the Frank and Saxon pirates at sea, and 
were not secure, even in their own harbours, which reduced the internal commerce 
to its lowest ebb, and quite annihilated the foreign trade. 

The Anglo-Saxons, in order to oppose the Danes, were obliged to have recourse 
again to naval architecture, and king Alfred,* who had been exiled in Ireland, on 
regaining possession of his kingdom, invited over Irish ship-buitders, who construct- 
ed for him a large fleet. Some of the vessels then built, had seventy-six oars, and 
were generally navigated by sixty or seventy sailors. In A. D. 957, king Edgar 
had a fleet of three hundred sail of small vessels." — Vide DandeVs Inquiry into the 
rise and progress of the British Navy, London edit. 1799, V^ol. I. fage 97. 

" That the Irish had letters anciently, is nothing doubtful ; for the Saxons of 
England are said to have had their letters and learning, and learned men from the 
Irish." — Spencer's state of Ireland, 1548. 

* The Princes Alfred and Oswald, were educated in the College of Mayo, as 
Henry and Lingard, the English historians testify, by historical proofs that cannot 
be subverted by the sophistry of scepticism. — Author. 

14 



106 

conflict became terrible and destructive ; but there being so many 
fresh men to supply the place of the slaughtered or disabled Danes, 
the Irish had no prospect of obtaining the victory. As unable, 
however, as Fingall was, to possess himself of the Danish ship, he was 
too valiant an Irishman to think of retreating to his own ; especially, 
without the destruction of Sitrick, the Danish Prince, in revenge of 
the death of the Irish commander. He took a resolution, therefore, 
in this dilemma, which is not to be equalled for determined bravery 
or romantic devotedness of gallant patriotism, in any history. 
Making his way up to Sitrick, with his sword against all that oppo- 
sed him, he grasped him in his arms, and threw himself, with him, 
into the sea, and they both perished together." 

EocHAiDH, after his accession to the throne, did nothing, either in 
war or policy, worthy of historical note, until the twelfth year of his 
reign, when in attempting to subvert revolt, he died by tlie sword of 
EocHAiDH VI. surnamed from his extraordinary swiftness in running, 
the Deer-hunter. This Prince was assisted in his insurrectionary 
war against the last monarch, by his brother, Conuing-Beg-Oige, 
(or the intrepid youth) and in consequence, they became joint mon- 
archs of Ireland. Like some of their predecessors, they divided the 
kingdom between them ; but they were not suffered to enjoy the 
sweets of sovereignty long, without being disturbed by the storms of 
revolt, and the pretensions of rivals. The territories of Eochaidh 
were invaded by Lughaidh-Laimh-Dearg, (or the Prince of the 
bloody hand) who, on coming to an engagement with the king, 
defeated his forces, and slew himself in the conflict. The conqueror 
then turned his arms against Conuing, who, then unable to resist 
his victorious array, fled to Gaul for succours. 

LuGHAiDH,in consequence was raised to the throne without further 
opposition. He was designated the Prince of the bloody hand, 
because that was the symbol emblazoned on his banner, and which 
is still the crest of his posterity, the O'Neils. While he was felici- 
tating himself with the prospect of a peaceable reign, his rival, 
Conuing, returned from Gaul, at the head of a formidable auxiliary 
force, with which he succeeded in defeating and killing Lughaidh, 
in the seventh year of his administration. Conuing, having derived 
wisdom in the school of adversity, formed the determination of 
governing his people with matured wisdom and patriotic justice. 
He revised the laws, abolished unnecessary taxation, and adopted 
every expedient of policy and prudence, to aggrandize the nation. 

But neither his virtues nor his patriotism could avert the destroying 
arm of ambition. He fell in battle by the hand of his successor, Art 
II. of the Heberian dynasty, in the tenth year of his reign, lamented 
by the majority of the Irish nation, who were unable to prevent his 
fate. The translator of Keating gives the following stanzas, from an 
Irish bard, in praise of his heroic qualities : 

" Conuing the brave, with love of glory fired, 
Oppressed by force, triumphantly expired; — 
He raised his courage for the last debate. 
And with a princely soul, undaunted met his fate — 
Slain by the sword of Art." 



107 

Art did not long retain the reins of power ; that which gave them 
into his hands, the sword, wrested the royal sceptre from his grasp, 
in the sixth year of his reign. The battle that terminated his life 
and sway, Avas fought at Tallanstown, in the county of Louth, A. 
M. 3432 * 

FiACHA, the son of Muireadheach, the conqueror of the last 
monarch, succeeded to the throne which he possessed for a period 
of ten years, and then fell by the hand of his successor, Olioll, 
who enjoyed the sovereignty for the space of eleven years, when the 
sword of Airgeadmhar doomed him to death on the field of battle. 

The oppression and cruelty exercised by Airgeadmhar, naturally 
produced discontent and disaffection ; so that the moment Eochaidh, 
the son of Olioll, unfurled the standard of revolt, it was the signal 
of a general and simultaneous insurrection. The tyrant, not pre- 
pared to resist the danger that pressed around him, fled to Albania, 
to claim assistance from his brother-in-law, the prince of that 
country. 

In the mean while, Eochaidh VII. is exalted to the throne, amidst 
the enthusiastic acclamations of the Irish people, who hailed him as 
their deliverer from the despotic and intolerable yoke of Airgeadmhar. 
But ere seven years had revolved, the despot returned with a 
mercenary army of Albanians, with which he carried terror and 
dismay through Munster. In his devastating progress, he was joined 
by DuACH, the son of Fiachadh, of the family of Heremon, as well 
as LuGHAiDH, and many other malcontents ; so that his army became 
numerous and formidable. The monarch, with all the forces he 
could collect, quickly marched to Adair, t near Limerick, where he 
brought the invader to an engagement, A. M. 3460. Both chieftains 
entered the field of fate, with the the resolution to either conquer or 
die. The Irish annalists say, that there never was, perhaps, a battle 
so gallantly and fiercely contested as this : it was heroic ambition 
struggling for power, with a chivalric and resolute valour, that could 
only be subdued by death. This murderous conflict, which was 
ruled by carnage and destruction, lasted from the getting up to the 
going down of the sun, when, at length, the brave monarch was pros- 
trated among the slain, which gave a dear-bought victory to Airgead- 
mhar. His chance success in this battle, put the sceptre of tyrannic 
power once more into his hands, which, for sixteen years afterwards, 

* Tallanstown, is a pretty, rural village, situated on the shrubby banks of the 
beautiful river Lagan, in the midst of the domain of Lord Louth, on the road to 
Londonderry, at the distance of forty-six miles N. E. from Dublin. Adjoining 
this rural village, there is an ancient Rath, or mound, which the late Lord Louth 
caused to be surrounded by a quick-set hedge, and planted by a variety of umbra- 
geous trees and flowering shrubs, so that it is now one of the most picturesque 
ornaments in this highly embellished domain. About three miles from Tallans- 
town is Louth, the little village from which the county derives its name, and 
Thomas Plunkett, Baron of Louth, his title. This village was once dignified by 
piety, and renowned for its seven churches and two abbeys, all of which, Jike the 
architectural glories of Babylon, are now wasting away by the consfamption of 
time and desolation. 

We will have occasion to speak more largely of Louth when we have brought 
down our history to the days of St. Patrick. 

t We will give the topography of Adair in a future chapter. 



108 

he pressed upon the Irish, with the most galling weight of despotism. 
But despotism always generates the cause of its own annihilation. 
The oppression of this tyrant reached that point which human for- 
bearance could not possibly tolerate ; and an insurrection, headed 
by his former friend, Duach-Laghrach, deprived him of his power 
and life, in the twenty-third year of his inglorious and cruel reign, 
A. M. 3480. 

Duach-Laghrach, which signifies, violent and hasty, was crowned 
monarch by the Druids, at Tara. Our historians represent him as a 
prince of the most irritable temperament ; and such was the unap- 
peasable relentlessness of his passion for summary justice, that the 
moment a criminal was condemned, he was hurried to execution. 
But tliis choleric disposition extinguished all the tenderer charities 
of humanity in his cold breast, which was never, it appears, softened 
by that compassionate mercy, which is the most magnanimous virtue 
of the monarch. His quondam friend, Lughaidi^-Laighe, or the 
fawn-hunter, of the dynasty of Heber, who so materially assisted him 
in gaining possession of the crown, became dissatisfied and discon- 
tented, at not being, according to compact made between him and 
Duach, when they conspired against Airgeadmhar, associated in the 
regal government, resolved to have vengeance for so ungrateful a 
breach of faith. He soon found himself at the head of a powerful 
military force, which enabled him to ascend the throne, after he had 
vanquished and killed his predecessor, A. M. 3490. Duach's reign 
of three years, except the events we have related, furnish no occur- 
rence deserving of historical note. 

Lughaidh-Laighe, after thus acquiring the darling object of his 
wishes, gave himself up to the alternate pleasures of love and the 
chase, until he had completed the seventh year of his regal sway ; 
when his successor, Aodh-Ruadh, of the royal line of Ir, challenged 
him to the martial field, where he forfeited his life and crown A. M. 
3497. 

Dr. Keating presents us with a very romantic episode, relative 
to king Lughaidh, which the classic reader will at once trace to that 
fictitious loom, that wove the amours of Endymion and Diana-^ 

POETIC INVENTION. 

" This Prince," says the Doctor, " it seems, as he was hunting in 
one of his forests," was separated from his retinue, and, in his en- 
deavour to rejoin his suite, he was met, in a gloomy labyrinth, by an 
old withered hag, who, after promising to conduct him to his friends, 
succeeded, by her lascivious blandishments, in seducing the monarch 
to her embraces, Avho, " nothing loath," no sooner threw one of his 
arms round her shrivelled neck, and began to caress her, than the 
sibyl was metamorphosed into a blooming maiden, of the most en- 
chanting beauty." 

This allegorical representation of the genius of Erin, was intro- 
duced, no doubt, by the adulatory court Laureate, of the Irish king, 
by such another fawning sycophant, as "the deep-mouthed Southey." 
When fiction creates a Numa Pompilius, she can easily bless him 
with the celestial charms of an Egeria. If Southey, the time-serv- 
ing apostate — the unprincipled defamer of the illustrious Byron, had 



109 

lived in the days of Caligula, he would have lauded his horse as an 
accomplished senator, and ascribed to him " every virtue under 
heaven." 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Tlie family coalitlun of the Princes of the House of Ir, to maintain the possession 
of the Irish Monarchy. — The reign of Jlodh-Dithorha and Ciomhaoith, and Queen 
Macha. — Building of the famous palace of Emania, in the county of Armagh. — 
The elevation of Reachta to the throne, and his tears with the Albanians. 

A. M. 3497, AoDH-RuADH, or the red, being a wise, shrewd, and 
political Prince, who, profiting by the melancholy fate that attended 
so many of his royal predecessors, for ages, came to the determina- 
tion of making a compact with all his relatives of the Irian dynasty, 
that would insure the stability of the regal authority, in the hands 
of the members of that family. He therefore summoned the national 
estates to Tara, and in their presence, ratified a solemn treaty, with 
his principal relatives, which stipulated between the contracting 
parties, that himself, and each of his brothers, or each of their eldest 
sons, should reign in rotation to twenty-one years, and that they 
should cordially unite in defeating the pretensions of the houses of 
Heber and Heremon, to the monarchy. The national estates gave 
their sanction to the agreement, and this act of settlement was formally 
recorded in the great Book of the Laws. 

Whether the other pretenders to the throne, were intimidated by 
this family alliance, or by the standing army, with which the king- 
then garrisoned all the strong holds in the kingdom, we have no his- 
torical evidence, or data, to solve the question ; but it appears that 
AoDH enjoyed a tranquil reign of nineteen years, which was termi- 
nated by the fatal catastrophe of his being drowned, while passing a 
cataract at Belleck, in the county of Donegal, which to this day, in 
commemoration of the event, retains the appellation of" Eas-ruadh,'^ 
or the red-fall. 

In pursuance of the terms of family compact, his brother, 
DiTHORBA, assumed the regal office, and after a prosperous reign of 
twenty years, undisturbed by civil or foreign wars, he died at Tara, 
of a malignant distemper, A. M. 3518. His nephew, Ciombaoith, 
the son of his brother, Fionntan, ascended the vacant throne, without 
dispute or molestation. Possessing talents of prime order, which 
were highly cultivated by education, he commenced his reign under 
the most brilliant auspices. His well-known prudence and elevation 
of mind, presaged the happiest results from his administration. He 
signalized the first acts of his regal authority, by enacting wise laws, 
and framing beneficial institutions for the promotion of national 
happiness and prosperity. After laying his plans of government 
before the national assembly, he married his cousin, the beautiful 
Macha-ruadpi, or the red-haired daughter of king Aodh. Though 



110 

this celebrated Princess had red tresses, yet our historians represent 
her as the loveliest woman of her age. This monarch governed the 
kingdom with such justice and impartiality, that he was emphati- 
cally denominated, the second Ollamh Fodhla. 

After a beneficial reign of twenty years, rendered memorable by 
the blessings of peace enjoyed by his people, he died at Tara, A. 
M. 3559. As soon as the honours due to his obsequies were paid, 
the eldest son of Dithorba, on whom the right of succession to the 
crown devolved, in consequence of Aodh, the father of the Queen 
regent, leaving no male issue, claimed the throne as his just and 
indisputable inheritance. But Macha, animated by a spirit of cour- 
age, that has immortalized her name, boldly entered the house of the 
national convention, and before the representative majesty of the 
kingdom, eloquently asserted that, as the daughter of Aodh, and the 
widow of Ciombaoith, she was the legitimate successor to the throne; 
that she wished to adhere to the laws of the rea'm, and obtain the 
sanction of that august assembly, in her proceedings ; but that, if 
justice was denied by them, in contravening her legal and unalien- 
able rights, she must in that case, resort to the sword to enforce her 
claims. Druids, Brehons, and Senators, were confounded by the 
daring audacity of her harangue ; but the constitutional law annulled 
her claims, and shut her out from the throne, for there was no in- 
stance or precedent, which could warrant the convention to suffer a 
woman to reign in Ireland. As soon as she was told that they must 
surrender the crown to the rightful heir, she laconically replied, 
" He must thenjiglit up to his knees in blood, before he can pluck the 
diadem of my fathers from my brow." After uttering this threat, she 
hastened to the camp, where a numerous and devoted army waited 
her orders.* 

The sons of Dithorba, finding that the convention of the estates 
could not put them in possession of power, instantly proceeded to 
embody a military force, to expel the magnanimous heroine from 
the throne. As soon as the Queen learned that they were advanc- 
ing on Tara, in hostile array, she marshalled her troops in the great 
square of the palace and addressed officers and soldiers, in the most 
moving and impassioned terms of eloquence. It is easy to judge, 
what effect the appeal of a beautiful Queen, had on the susceptible 
affections and combustible enthusiasm, of an Irish army, composed, 
as it was then, of courage and chivalry. Every heart was inflamed, 
and every tongue was loud in the exclamation — " Let your Majesty 
lead us to the enemy's camp !" In a moment this intrepid Amazon 
mounted her war horse, and at the head of her devoted soldiers, 
marched forward to meet the coming foe. 

When she approached the eminence, in the county of Meath, where 
the insurgents were encamped, she immediately drew up her troops 
in order of battle, and, before she gave the signal of attack, she rode 
along the lines, and addressed the most animating speech to every 
corps of her army : — she reminded them of the valour of her an- 
cestors, and the justice of her cause, " and though, gentlemen," 

* Mr. Moore, in his history, has not honoured the memory oi Macha, the very 
Omphale of Ireland, with even an allusion. 



Ill 

added slie, " you will coQibat to-day under the command of a woman, 
yet I shall prove that I am worthy of leading Irish heroes, and that, 
in the woman-heart of your Queen, there is glowing the chivalric 
spirit of ray Milesian fathers." 

Every column, inflamed with burning ardour, rushed to the charge : 
the onset was terrible and destructive ; for the troops of Dithorba 
vs'ere brave and determined, so that they stood before the spears of 
the assailants, like a wall of brass : the Queen, with invincible 
courage, rushed to every point of danger, rallied and reanimated 
every retreating column, then placing herself at the head of the 
heavy archers,* and the household troops of Tara, she made an 
impetuous and irresistible assault on the strong position, defended by 
the sons of Dithorba in person, and the flower of their army, which 
she carried in a gallant style, and succeeded in capturing a great 
number of her opponents, aud putting her rivals and their fugitive 
soldiers to a shameful flight ; — leaving in the hands of their conquer- 
ing heroine, their camp, equipage, and spoils. This most decisive 
victory, gained by Macha, struck her enemies with fear and dismay, 
while it augmented her adherents, who now reverenced her with a 
kind of idolatrous admiration. When she returned to Tara in tri- 
umph, several members of the national convention, who had opposed 
her pretensions to the throne, fled, and the Arch-Druid concealed 
himself in the sanctuary of the temple. But Macha, too magnani- 
mous for revenge, displayed as much clemency in the cabinet, as 
she did valour in the combat, by publishing a decree of general am- 
nesty, which had the effect of making former enemies her attached 
friends. 

* Archers. — The ancient Irish soldiers acquired great fame for their expert- 
ness and skill, in archery. No youth, however noble, would be admitted into the 
Fiana Erion, or Irish militia, who could not, with precision, pierce a given object 
with an arrow, at the distance of 200 yards. These cross-bowmen did great and 
destructive execution in battle. Perhaps the science of archery, can boast as high 
an antiquity in Ireland, as in any other nation on earth. In several renowned 
battles the Irish bowmen obtained the victory. When our Fingal delivered 
Caledonia from the Roman yoke, his accomplished archers were the terror of the 
Roman legions. In 1314, at the famous battle of Bannockburn, two regiments of 
Irish archers, which O'Neil sent to the assistance of his brother-in-law, Robert 
Bruce, contributed so effectually to the success of the Scottish arms, that Chaucer,^ 
afterwards in alluding to the defeat of his countrymen, celebrated the bravery of 
the Irish, in the following couplet : 

" To Mhion Scots we ne'er would yield — 

The Irisli Bowmen won the field." 

Spencer, in a letter to Lord Southampton, dated August, 1597, extols the Irish 
archers for their discipline and power. He says — " They certainly do great exe- 
cution with their short bows and little quivers, and their short-bearded arrows are 
fearfully Scythian." Holinshed, in his chronicles, tells us that the famous 
outlaw, Robin Hood, fled to Ireland, in the reign of Richard I.; and that an Irish- 
man, of the name of Lawler, excelled him in feats of archery. By an act of par- 
liament passed at Trim, in the reign of Edward IV. according to Harris, it was 
ordained, that " every loyal Irishman, in the pale, might have an Irish bow of his 
own length, and one fistmele, at least, between the necks, with twelve shafts, of 
the length of three quarters of the standard." Dr. Hanmer, in recording the 
trial of skill and prowess in archery, between Robin Hood and Patrick Lawler, in 
Dublin, A. D. 1195, states that " Robin shot an arrow eleven score and seven 
yards, the distance from Old Bridge to St. Michael's church; but Lawler, his 
competitor, sent his arrow three yards farther." 



112 

Dithorba, overwhelmed with affliction, and dejected by grief, 
occasioned by the late defeat, died at Diuidalk, in Louth, v.'here he 
and his five sons, with the shattered remnant of their forces had 
retreated. In his last moments, he earnestly conjured his sons to 
make another eifort to obtain the crown, and rescue the nation from 
the disgrace of having its sceptre wielded by a woman. As soon as 
they had celebrated the funeral ceremonies of their father, the five 
princes, whose names were Baotli, Buadhach, Bras, Ullacli, and 
Borhchas, proceeded to recruit their army. 

When they had completed their levies, which now amounted to a 
formidable force, they marched to Granard,* in the county of Long- 
ford, where they encamped, and instantly despatched heralds to the 
Queen, requiring her either to surrender the crown, or try the fate 
of another battle. She told the herald, she regarded the requisition 
to relinquish the crown, with pity and scorn ; but that she was 
ready and willing to meet her competitors in battle, and abide by 
the event. The Queen, in consequence, once more took the field, 
and attacked the sons of Dithorba, in their camp, at Granard, and 
after an obstinate contest, gained a decisive victory over them. 

The vanquished chieftains, with the broken remains of their forces 
precipitately retreated to Ulster, whither the victorious Queen pur- 
sued them, and overtaking them, in the county of Armagh, brought 
them to an action, in which she annihilated their whole army, and 
made captives of themselves. This unexampled success, prostrated 
the hopes of all the Queen's enemies, and filled her friends with 
exultation. 

When the captive Princes were brought before her, instead of 
upbraiding them for their conduct, or treating them with the inso- 
lence of a conqueror, she, with a superior greatness of soul, rather 
complimented them, on the bravery they had displayed, in their wars 
with her, and sympathized generously in their misfortunes. When 
it was announced to her, that a council of the Druids and Brehons, 
had passed sentence of death on these gallant, but unfortunate war- 
riors, she indignantly revoked the sentence, observing, " that Princes 
of the Milesian dynasty, as well as her blood relations, should never 
die like criminals." The punishment she then imposed, was, that 
they should build a stately palace, almost equal in magnitude and 
grandeur of architecture, to that of Tara, for her, which should ever 
after be the court of the Princes of Ulster. She then took a gold 
bodkin from her handkerchief, and designed the plan of the famous 
palace of Emania, — a superb structure, which for ages subsequent 

* Granard is a flourishing and well built town, environed by a very beautiful 
and romantic country, in the county of Longford, at the distance of 75 miles N. 
W. from Dublin. 

Here there is a very noble Rath, or moat, from whose summit, a charming and 
diversified prospect of six counties can be commanded. The houses in Granard, 
are mostly built of brick, and the spacious streets are well paved. The barracks 
are a great addition to the fine appearance of the town. Granard gives the title of 
Earl, to the Forbes' family, who are of Scotch descent, and were ennobled by 
Charles I. Castle Forbes, the elegant residence of the Earl of Granard, is at 
Newtown Forbes, between Longford and Granard. On every side of the latter 
town, there are landscape attractions for the Painter and the Poet. 



113 

to this era, A. M. 3563, was occupied by the kings of Ulster. This 
magnificent edifice, which, for extent and beauty of architecture, 
was only inferior to Tara, received the name of Eniania, from the 
incident of Queen Macha having sketched out its form with her 
bodkin. The Irish designation of that fabric, was, according to Dr. 
Keating, Eamkuin Macha; — for Ea is pin, and Muin, or Muineal, 
neck; which, whencompounded, signifies literally, the pin of the neck. 
Of the immense pile of Emania, which stood near Armagh; or of the 
princely castle of the Craob-Ruadh, or Red Branch, not a vestige of 
its architectural splendour remains, by which the antiquary could 
trace out its site ; for like " heaven-built Ilium," time has scattered 
its mural fragments in the winds of oblivion, but fame has sculptured 
its colossal image from the indestructible adamant of History, and 
placed it in the temple of immortality. The kings of Ulster were 
generally styled, the " Monarchs of Emania." Ossian frequently 
alludes {not 3IcPherson's Utopian bard) to the "stately halls of Ema- 
nia;" and in an apostrophe, he says, " hail to thy pillared grandeur, 
lovely Emania ! the seat of green Ullin's kings." When we bring 
down our history to the period, when the Collas destroyed the royal 
palace of Emania, we shall say more of it. 

Macha, having triumphed over all her enemies, and immortalized 
her name, by the glory of her exploits, was suddenly seized by a fit 
of apoplexy, at Tara, which terminated her life and reign, A. M. 
3566. The exploits of this illustrious heroine have been celebrated 
by the loftiest eifusions of Irish eloquence and epic poetry. Prior to 
her death, she, by the concurrence of the national estates, appointed 
her cousin, Reachta, the grand-son of kingLughaidh, of the dynasty 
of Heber, her successor. 

He distinguished himself eminently, in the Queen's wars, and gave 
proofs of possessing those qualities, that dignify the royal station. 
He was a very ambitious Prince, and no sooner had he taken the 
reigns of power, than he fitted out a large armament, with which he 
invaded Scotland, and reduced the country to complete subjection ; 
and afterwards assumed the title of " Monarch of Ireland and Alba- 
ny." He returned to Tara, enriched with spoils and trophies. 
After a glorious reign of twenty years, he was killed in battle by his 
successor, Jughaine. 

Mr. Moore, who, as far as his history could eflfect his purpose, has 
thrown a shroud of oblivion over the reigns and actions of all the 
regal successors of Ollamh Fodhla, down to the accession of Ciom- 
baoith. He apologizes for this blank in his history in the following 
passage. " A long series of kings, with scarcely a single event 
worthy of commemoration, fills up the interval between the reign of 
this monarch (Ollamh Fodhla) and the building of the palace of 
Emania by king Ciombaoith ; an event, forming as we have seen, a 
prominent era in the Irish annals, and from which Tighernach 
dates the dawn of authentic history. This splendid palace of the 
Princes of Ulster, who were from thence forward called Kings of 
Emania, had in its neighbourhood the mansion appropriated to the 
celebrated knights of the red-branch, so triumphantly sung by the 
Bards, and commemorated by the seanachies." We wonder, indeed, 
15 



114 



on what historical authority, Mr. Moore has attributed the building of 
E mania to Ciombaoith, as he had no more to do with its erection 
than with that of the palace of Cashel. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The reign of Jughaine the Great, — His conquests. — Partition of Ireland into twenty- 
five Military Districts for his sons. — His death and character. 

JuGHAiNE-MoRE, or Hugony the Great, of the House of Heremon^ 
having triumphed over his predecessor as related in the last chapter, 
was solemnly invested with regal authority, at Tara, A. M. 3587. 
He had a mind enlightened by genius, and elevated to the loftiest 
aspiration of military fame, by a daring and insatiable ambition. 
As soon as the rejoicings and festivities of his coronation had subsid- 
ed, he passed over into Albania with a military force, chastised the 
Picts, who then had manifested disaffection to his government, and 
levied large contributions from the entire colony. The fame of his 
power and exploits, spread over the continent of Europe, so that all 
the sovereigns, of this epoch, were desirous of his alliance and friend- 
ship. He shortly afterwards, with a splendid retinue of knights and 
minstrels, visited the court of Gaul, where he married the fair 
Cossaria, surnaraed Gradhmharaclid ox the lovely, the daughter of the 
monarch of that country. 

When he returned to his kingdom with his beautiful Queen, he 
summoned the national estates to a solemn convocation at Tara, to- 
whom he announced his projects of conquest, and his plans of enrich- 
ing the empire by the accession of foreign territory. The devoted 
senators hailed his propositions with acclamation, and immediately 
gave the devised measures of the ambitious monarch their sanction. 
Availing himself of their pliant subserviency, and the ready disposi- 
tion they had manifested to approve of his designs, no matter how 
unconstitutional, he boldly exacted from them a most solemn oath, 
which they swore on the smoking oblation, on the sacred altar of 
the sun, by the throne of that great deity, " by the moon, stars, and 
hy Neptune — to hear true and undivided allegiance to Mm and his 
posterity, in exclusion of the other royal houses of Ireland.'''' When 
this illegal and unwarrantable procedure on the part of the king* 

* " This was a memorable revolution in the form of the executive government. 
The kings of Ireland derived no rights from genealogical succession, by primogeni- 
ture ; — nor Avas it sufRcent to be of the royal line, unless they made their way to 
the throne by what the world too frequently denominates great actions, without 
entering into the worthiness of the motives. The ancient government of Ireland 
was a mixed monarch}', wherein the kings were elected out of a certain royal 
family." — Dissertation on the History of Ireland. 

" The government of Ireland was at first divided after the manner of the ancient 
Gauls, into several petty states, with a head king elected over each of them. 
This was a kind of government which they derived, probably, from the Patriarchs, 
and was extremely consistent with tlie essence and genius of true liberty. But 



115 

was duly confirmed by the acquiescence of the national assembly, 
Jughaine, previously appointing his wife Queen Regent of Ireland 
and Albany, embarked with a large fleet, and after a short passage, 
effected a landing in Sicily. 

The inhabitants of this island, not being able to resist such a wai*- 
like invader, submitted to whatever terms the conqueror thought 
proper to dictate to them. After leaving a colony in the island of 
Sicily, he thence sailed to Carthage, in order to assist the Carthagi- 
nians, his allies, in their wars with the Romans.'* Our annalists 
speak in glowing terms of eloquent enthusiasm, of the heroic bravery 
of the Irish monarch and his soldiers in several battles with the 
Romans, and assert that the Carthaginian chiefs, as a reward for the 
valour and services displayed by Hugony in their cause, ceded to him 
the islands of Sardinia, Majorca, and Minorca, and bestowed upon 
him the glorious appellation and title of '■^ Monarch of Ireland and 
Albany, and all the Western Isles of Europe.'''' We cannot, however, 
adduce any cotemporary evidence, to prove that Hugony performed 
the brilliant exploits, which some of our historians so confidently 
attribute to him. 

during the successive reigns of many Milesian kings, the chief in abilities, and 
martial skill of the royal family, was elected to govern, as absolute monarch, the 
whole nation, with the aid and concurrence of the provincial kings." — Warner. 

" There were two great requisites to entitle a prince to the throne of Ireland ; 
the right of Milesian blood, and the right of popular election." — Harris. 

" No matter what virtues or qualities an ambitious leader might possess, the 
want of the royal Milesian blood would exclude him from the throne." — Vind. of 
Irish History. 

" There were two things to be considered — hereditary right, and popular elec- 
tion. By hereditary right, any male relation to the deceased monarch was quali- 
fied to administer the chief government of that principality, the founder of which 
any of his ancestors had been : but by election, one man was invested with that 
dignity for the period of his life. Nor could those, in whom the power of choosing 
was centered, elect an alien, but he should be either the uncle, brother, son, or some 
other relation of the last reigning king. This law being strictly attended to, the 
sovereign power was conferred on the senior person, as he was thought to be more 
worthy to fill this elevated station." — O'Flaherty's Ogygia. 

* " We have already shown the connexions between the Irish and Carthagi- 
nians ; and there is a passage in Plutarch's life of Timoleon, who was nearly a 
contemporary with the Irish monarch, which is worthy of attention. 

" He tells us, that at the siege of Syracuse, the Greek mercenaries in the Car- 
thaginian army, in times of truce, frequently met and conversed with their coun- 
trymen under Timoleon. That one of the Corinthians addressed his countrymen 
in the opposite army thus : — ' Is it possible, O Grecians, that yoa should be so 
forward to reduce a city of this greatness, and endowed with so many great advan- 
tages, into a state of barbarism, and lend your aid to plant Carthaginians so much 
nearer to us, who are the worst and the bloodiest of men .'' whereas, you should 
rather wish that there were many more Sicilies to lie between them and Greece. 
Have you so little sense, as to suppose that they came hither with an army from 
the Pillars of Hercules, and the Atlantic sea, to hazard themselves for the estab- 
lishment for Icetas.'" 

" From the whole, I think we may reasonably conclude, that the Carthaginians 
procured powerful assistance from Ireland, as well as from Spain and Gaul, at this 
period : nor do I 'think I should be censured of rashness, if 1 were to offer a con- 
jecture, that the Sacred Cohort, mentioned by Diodorus, was a select body of Irish 
troops, whose fidelity and intrepidity could be always depended on. To strengthen 
this conjecture, as our legions in Gaul were called Finne- Gall, and in Albany 
Finne-Mbin, (or the militia of Albin,) we may well suppose that the Fiune-Torn- 
haraig, or African legions, so often met with in old MSS., means no other than 
the Irish Militia in that service." — O'Haixoran. 



116 

We are not aware that any Roman writer, who has narrated the 
occurrences of the Punic wars, makes mention of an Irish legion 
among the auxiharies of Carthage. 

But even if the imputed exploits of Jughaine had been all perform- 
ed, and that in honour of his victories, his statue stood in the Temple 
of Jupiter Ammon, and that his martial deeds were emblazoned on 
the records of Carthage, — still the devouring conflagration kindled 
by the second Scipio, would have reduced the marble and the vellum 
to ashes. The Pyramids of Egypt are but the oblivious sepulchre 
of that unknown fame, which, it was vainly expected, they would 
have consecrated to immortality. It was always the policy of the 
Romans to destroy the monuments and registers of every country, 
which they had subjected to their arms, lest the mementos of past 
glory might inspire present insurrection. Hence we may fairly 
conclude that when they destroyed Carthage, at this juncture, they 
did not depart from their uniform practice of annihilation, by saving 
her archives, and writings from the fiery and devouring element. 

The discord kindled in Ireland by the rivalship and jealousy of 
the conquering monarch's twenty-five sons, obliged him to abandon 
foreign acquisitions, and return to his own kingdom, which he found 
convulsed by anarchy and dissension. But the presence of the King 
soon restored order and tranquillity. Abuses were rectified by salu- 
tary remedies, grievances were redressed, the causes of discontent 
removed ; and thus concord and confidence resulted from the firm, 
but conciliatory measures which the King had put in active opera- 
tion. 

The better to secure the internal peace of the kingdom, and obe- 
dience to the established laws, this monarch, by the advice of a coun- 
cil of Druids and Brehons, parcelled out the nation into twenty-five 
Vice-royalties, over each of which he appointed one of his sons, to 
whom he delegated magisterial power, to be exercised at his discre- 
tion.* By this measure of precaution, the King extended the sphere 

* " Oral jurisprudence prevailed in Ireland in the most remote ages. The distri- 
bution of legal justice was for ages engrossed by the Druids and Brehons, who 
often made laws that were subversive of the rights and immunities of the Irish 
people, until, after ages of oppression, the great Ollamh-Fodhla, penetrating the 
tyranny which corrupted the stream of justice, gave the Irish a constitutional 
shield to defend their lives and properties from the aggression of Druidical tribu- 
nals. But the most glorious reformations in the legislative code of Ireland, were 
effected by Royney Rosgadhack, the son of Hugony the Great, about 290 years 
before the Christian epoch." — Bishop Nicholson. 

" Before the introduction of written laws among the Irish, when any contro- 
versy was to be decided, the Brehon, or vice Druid, used to sit on an immense 
pile of stoneS; raised on a high eminence, without canopy or covering, and without 
clerks, registers, or records, or indeed without any formality of a court of justice ; 
and this afterwards came to be called the Brehon tribunal • and strange as it may 
appear, the decisions of these rural courts were observed with inviolable sacred- 
ness." — Warner. 

" At this era, the revolutions in government were frequent, and the Druidical 
Brehons applauded every new change with seditious violence ; and, in their judi- 
cial capacity, as Brehons, silenced or oppressed, but too often, the voice of justice. 
They sought every means of imposing on the public, and of rendering their know- 
ledge as dark and cabalastic, as their decisions were violent and ai-bitrary." — 
O'Connor. 



117 

of monarchial influence, established a safeguard against the plots of 
disaft'ection, and held in check the intrigues of the provincial kings. 
Each of the twenty-five Princes, on setting out for the district allotted 
to him for government, was accompanied by a learned and sage 
Brehon, whom he constituted his prime-minister and supreme judge. 
But soon after these princes had been thus invested with authority, 
they began to play the parts of rapacious despots, in their respective 
districts. Their amercement and rapacity set every principle of 
justice and equity at defiance. They quartered their soldiers on the 
inhabitants, and not content with imposing this oppressive burden, 
they also exacted from them contributions of money and oxen. The 
galling inflictions of their grievous dominion became so insupportable, 
that the people were, at length, emboldened to represent the aggres- 
sions of the petty despots to the monarch, who promptly attended to 
the appeal of his subjects, and had immediate recourse to the most 
effectual means of suppressing the evils that pressed so heavily on 
their liberties and fortunes. Such of his sons as were notorious for 
their despotism, he removed from their stations ; and such as he 
found only partially guilty of the imputed delinquency, he reprimand- 
ed in severe terms of admonition, and then, on their making a solemn 
promise of amendment, suffered them to resume their lieutenancy. 
Having thus redressed the grievances and remedied the wrongs of 
which his people complained, the wise monarch proceeded to make a 
tour through his kingdom. Beneficence and improvement marked 
the footsteps of his progress on this occasion. He every where re- 
lieved the wants of indigence — opened a sphere for industry and 
employment, by ordering the erection of bridges, raths, and fortifi- 
cations at all places that afforded sites for them. 

This laudable conduct of the sovereign, not only set the spirit and 
genius of the nation into action, but contributed to concentrate 
around his throne the hearts and aflfections of his subjects. The good 
and glorious monarch continued for a series of years to witness, with 
delight, the growing greatness and happiness of a people, whom he 
loved as a parent, and by whom he was beloved with the filial feelings 
of children. 

But, notwithstanding the virtues that adorned his reign, and the 
hold which his amiable character possessed in popular opinion, 
ambition resolved to use that means which had placed the crown 
upon his head in depriving him of it — the sword. The feuds and 
bloody discord that unhappily raged, with unnatural animosity, 
among the sons of Jughaine, and to which they had all fallen victims 
except two, encouraged his own brother, Badhbhchadh, to raise the 
standard of revolt. The event ended in the death of the monarch, 
in an engagement which ensued, in the fortieth year of his reign, and 
the seventieth of his age. 

But scarce had the conqueror received the druidical benediction, 
after his coronation, when the two sons of Jughaine, Laoghairc- 
Lore and Cobhthaigh-Caolmberg, effected a counter-revolution, and 
deprived the uncle of life and throne, in the second day of his reign. 

The historic relations which have come down to us of the alleged 
conquests and chivalric gallantry of Jughaine-More, are no doubt 



118 

impregnated with the spirit of fiction, and embellished with the 
glowing colours of poetry ; yet, while we would strip the warrior's 
fame of the fabulous plumage, with which bardic enthusiasm has so 
lavishly decked it, we must still admire the patriotic King and just 
Legislator, and accord to him that eulogium, which the highest 
deserts of regal station, justice, philanthropy, and mercy, emphati- 
cally invoke from us as an impartial historian of Ireland. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Tlic accession of Laoghaire II. — Is murdered by his brother, vjiho ascends the throne. — 
The, murder of his nepheic, and his horrid conduct towards his grand-nephew. 

The genius and bravery which Laoghaire so conspicuously evinced 
in deposing and despatching the regicide, enlisted the good opinion 
and partiality of the nation in his favour, to such an extent of enthu- 
siasm, that the general voice called him to the throne to the exclusion 
of his eldest brother. The Druids and Brehons finding it unavailing 
to. stem the irresistible tide of popular prejudice, like the Roman 
Pontiff, in the case of Napoleon, had to make a virtue of necessity, 
and freely give all the solemn pomp of religion to the inauguration 
of the prince of the people. His elevation implanted in the bosom of 
his brother, the most rancorous feelings of envy and jealousy ; but 
he endeavoured for the present to smother the latent fires of malice 
that wasted his personal and mental energies. On every occasion, 
he endeavoured to sustain the character of an affectionate brother, 
in the hope that kind destiny might yet afford him an opportunity of 
appeasing the angry passions which, in his heart, turned the " milk 
of human kindness" into the poison of revenge. " But this concealed 
spirit," says O'Hallorau, " sensibly affected his constitution, which 
increased on hearing of the birth of a grand-nephew ; and he became 
at length so emaciated, as to take to his bed." 

The noble-minded Ring, on hearing of the indisposition of an only 
brother, whom he sincerely loved, was sensibly touched with afflic- 
tion, and lost not a moment in paying an afl'ectionate visit of condo- 
lence, in which, to make it more respectful and imposing, he was 
accompanied by his guards and nobles, to his dear Cobhthaigh. 
When the monarch entered the chamber of his brother, and beheld 
the ravages which indisposition had made in his face and frame, the 
tears of fraternal anguish flowed involuntarily through his eyes, 
from the fountain of a sincere heart. The artful Cobhthaigh, pre- 
tending to be moved by the generous concern of the Ring, said — 
" Brother this tender affection wins my heart, and makes me regret 
that my approaching death will deprive me of an opportunity of 
testifying the attachment which animates me towards your Majesty; 
but still, as this may be the last meeting we shall ever have in this 
world, I am sorry, dear brother, that courtiers should hear the affec- 



119 

ting and mournful words of an eternal farewell, or witness the last 
sad embrace of brothers." 

" Dearest Cobhthaigh !" said the confiding monarch, " believe me 
that my motive in bringing my royal train, sprang from my desire 
of imparting pomp and eclat to my visit to a brother who shares 
equally with my Queen and son, the warmest love of my heart ; but 
console yourself with this assurance until tomorrow, when I shall 
again come to see you, alone and unattended." 

Accordingly, on the following day, the unsuspecting King repaired 
early to the chamber of his brother, and seating himself on his bed- 
side, he began with the most tender solicitude, to inquire how he 
had rested the preceding night ; but receiving no answer, he was in 
the act of bending his body over his brother, to ascertain whether he 
slept, when the villanous Cobhthaigh, suddenly rising, plunged a 
poignard into the breast of the monarch, who had only time, before 
he expired to ejaculate — " I am murdered ! — but Bel shall punish 
you for the treacherous deed !" 

The cruel fratricide, with his infamous accomplice, the Arch-Druid, 
having previously won over the interest of the army, found no diffi- 
culty in silencing the murmurs of the people. The assassin was 
crowned on the stone of destiny, at Tara, by the hands of his ini- 
quitous minion, A. M. 3619. But the flagitious fratricide had still 
to wade deeper in kindred blood, before his guilty mind could reach 
the resting-place of imagined security. 

His nephew, Olioll, and his infant son, Maon, (or Mahon) were 
still living ; and he thought that while they had existence, his throne 
tottered on a slippery foundation, and that he only held the sceptre 
by a supple and tremulous grasp. To remove this cause of terror 
and apprehension, he and his diabolical minister, the Druid, hired 
villains who inveigled him to the top of the mountain of Magh- 
Breag-Didhiod, (now the Dargle*) in the county of Wicklow, whence 

* PowERScouRT, the princely residence of Viscount Powerscourt, is situated in 
the county of Wicklow, at the distance of twelve miles from Dublin, and presents 
to the admiration of the traveller a charming combination of picturesque and 
romantic scenery. Powerscourt, and all its manors, formed part of the immense 
possessions of the O'Moore, of Leix. The Virgin Queen made a grant of Powers- 
court, arid its dependencies, to Sir Richard Wingfield, the ancestor of the present 
noble proprietor, who was marshal of Ireland at the accession of James I. Powers- 
court House IS an elegant specimen of Ionic architecture ; and, like the Bank of 
Ireland, the Lying-in- Hospital, and the Dublin Society House, stands as a lasting 
monument of the Palladian taste of Mr. Cassell, the famous architect. This 
edifice stands on the acclivity of a mountain, which elevates its oak-plumed crest 
far above the embattled turrets of the castle. The pilastered front, of chiselled 
stone, embellished with window-frame mouldings, sculptured architraves, and 
entablature decorations, at once pleases the eye, and fills the mind with admiration-. 
The garniture of groves, and the grassy glades that spread flower-embroidered 
carpets beneath the waving shade of vivid foliage, overhanging a winding river, 
finely contrast architectural pomp with floral beauty. The Egj'ptian banqueting- 
hall, in this house, is as spacious as it is unique and magnificent. Its superb fur- _ 
niture, its figured draperies of damasked crimson, its living pictures, its breathing 
statues, its Grecian carpets, and Mosaic ceiling, as well as the reflective flood of 
coloured light that its mirror-constellated walls pour over its imposing tout ensemble, 
all tend to impart the radiant air and illusive enchantment of eastern splendour to 
the scene, and make the delighted beholder imagine, that he stood in the gorgeous 
pavilion which Cleopatra had fitted up for the reception of Caesar. At each end 



120 

they precipitated him in the yawning chasm below, where he was 
drowned. 

The infant Prince, Mahon, was now the only obstacle in the 
bloody road of atrocious ambition. His horrible treatment to this 
Prince was marked with such a refinement of cruelty, that we shall 
detail it in the language of the venerable Keating: 

" When the sanguinary tyrant sent for the child, he forced him to 
eat part of the hearts of his father and grand-father ; and to torture 
him the more, he caused him to swallow a living mouse, and by such 
inhuman methods, resolved to destroy him; but, by a strange provi- 
dence, the child was so affrighted by these barbarities, that he seemed 
deranged; — and by the convulsions and agonies he was in, perfectly 
lost the use of his speech — which, when the usurper perceived, he 
dismissed him with his life, for he thought he would never recover 
his senses, and therefore could not be able to assert his right to the 
crown, or give him disturbance in the government." 

The ruthless usurper came to this conclusion by the advice of the 
wicked Arch-Druid, who exercised with impunity the most domineer- 
ing ascendency over the weak but vicious mind of the tyrant. 

But the sequel of the next chapter will furnish another exemplifi- 
cation of the omnipotence and omnipresence of that watching provi- 
dence, which never fails sooner or later, to smite guilt with the bolts 
of retributive vengeance, and to light for justice a torch, by which 
she can discover the perpetrators of murder in the darkest recesses 
of concealment. 

Tlie friends of young Mahon secretly conveyed him to the court of 
Scoriat, Ring of Munster, where he found a safe and friendly asylum, 
and where the sympathy and kindness of that monarch bestowed 
their assiduous solicitude in contributing to his happiness and comfort, 
and in perfecting his mind in all those solid and graceful accomplish- 
ments of education, which alone give lustre and eminence to the 
character of a Prince. 

there is a gallery supported by Corinthian columns, and beautified by a gilt balus- 
trade. The immense park intervening the house, and the water-fall, is as it were 
divided by rows of stately oaks, into rural aisles and choirs. You enter it through 
a portal, formed by a mountain chasm, opened by some concussion of nature, and 
arched by the knitted branches of trees. 

On every side of the vale, through which a meandering river winds its devious 
course over a rocky channel, mountain cliffs, clothed in forest vesture, elevate 
their summits to the skies ; and, as you advance, the scene that opens to your 
view is terminated by a huge amphitheatre of wood, from the impending eminence 
of which, at the height of many hundred feet, the limpid cascade of the Dargle 
rushes stupendously out, like a torrent of molten crystal, dashing its impetuous 
waves over rocks and precipices of emerald, and then tumbling down headlong 
into the abyss below. The traveller who ascends the towering peak called the 
Lover's Leap, shall be repaid for his trouble by the picturesque prospect he will 
enjoy. The expansive sheets of undulating wood outstretched before him, the 
rocky spires capped with sky-mists, the distant limits of the domains of Tinnahinch, 
Miltown, and Charleville defining the outlines, while the round-towers of Glen- 
daloo-h, the castle of Rathdrum, and the gray cliffs of the Scalp, fill up the body 
of the landscape picture with the vivid tints of animation and form. To look down 
from the elevation, on the turbulent chasm at the foot of the rock, is truly fearful; 
so that the romantic maiden, who, in the madness of disappointed love, precipitat- 
ed herself into its yawning depths, has as great a claim on immortality as Sappho. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Prince Mahon repairs to the court of his Uncle, the King of France — Distinguishes 
himself in the French army, of which lie is appointed Generalissimo.— Moriat, 
Princess of Munster, sends a harper as an emissary of love, to the Prince, who 
sings an ode of the Princess's composition, which awakens a tender passion for 
her in his hosom. — He invades Ireiand and succeeds in recovering thefiirone of 
his ancestors — Marries the fair Moriat, and is slain in battle by his successor, Jl. 
M. 3668, after a reign of nineteen years.— The accession of Meilge, Modh-Chorb, 
and Aongus to the throne. 

The usurper dreading nothing from a; Prince, like young Mahon, 
whom he considered deranged and dumb, scarcely ever bestowed a 
thought upon his existence, or the danger that might arise from his 
claims to the crown ; but the secret and attached friends of the 
legitimate Pz'ince, convinced of his genius and capacity, resolved to 
prevail upon him to go to his uncle's court, in France, where he 
might remain in safety, not only until his education was completed, 
but also until measures were sufficiently matured, and a phalanx of 
events set in motion for his restoration. 

Prior to his departure, he and the Princess Moriat, reciprocally 
pledged vows of eternal constancy to each other, and the feelings of 
their hearts acted in concert in affixing the seal of love to the solemn 
covenant. On the arrival of Mahon in France, he and his retinue 
were received with all the honours due to the heir apparent of the 
Irish throne, and all the distinctive eclat that could give pomp to the 
visit of a member of the royal family to the French Court. The 
external graces of his person, and the attraction of his mental ac- 
complishments, soon v.'on for him popularity and esteem among the 
French courtiers. At a court of Tournament, in which all the bravest 
knights of France contended, he won the prize of chivalry — and as the 
fair always admire the brave, his cousin, the beauteous Princess Cha- 
lonsia, conceived, on witnessing his feats, an ardent affection for him. 
Whether she ever made known the secret wish of her heart to Mahon, 
our historians do not tell us ; but certain it is, that one of his suit 
found means of acquainting Moriat of the tender passion with which 
her plighted lover had inspired the French Princess. Shortly after 
the victory at the court of tournament. Prince Mahon was raised, by 
his uncle, to the supreme command of the French army, where his 
valour and genius attracted the rays of popular fame. The renown 
of his exploits in arms, swelled not only the echoing voice of eulogium 
in France, but also in his native land, where its reverberation 
materially contributed to add fuel to the hopes of his adherents, while 
it sensibly touched, with an increasing glow of enthusiasm, that gentle 
heart in which his vow was recorded, and his image enshrined. 
While the sounds of the encomiastic tongue, which uttered the 
praises of her beloved Mahon, fell upon her ear like the music of the 
harp,^till her jealousy of the seductive blandishments of the French 
Princess, often turned in imagination, the sweet melody into the 
dismal notes of the death-knell of love. Her bosom becoming a prey 
to the torture of suspense and fears, she came to the determination 
16 



122 

of sending Craftine, a minstrel of lier father's court, of whose fidelity 
she had experience, with a letter and a rich gift of jewels to 
Mahon.* 

After instructing him in the management of his embassy, she 
handed him an ode of her own composition, breathing at once the 
inspired language of love and patriotism, which she caused him to 
set to plaintive music, and sing to his harp. No sooner had the 
minstrd convinced the princess, by several rehearsals, (if so we may 
term his trials,) of his power to give a touching and affecting expres- 
sion to her feeling-speaking ode, than he set out for France. 

When this bardic Mercury arrived at the head quarters of Mahon, 
on the banks of the Loii-e, he took his station unperceived, under 
the window of his pavilion, and sung to his harp the ode of the Irish 
princess. This ode, in the original language, possesses a spirit of 
poetry, and a soul-thrilling force of pathos, which even the genius of 
a Moore could not transfuse into English verse. As it never has 
been, we believe, translated into English, the following tame, but 
literal version of it, may not only be pleasing to our readers, but 
induce the Irish Anacreon (Moore) to consecrate and embalm it in 
that inspiration, whicli has conferred immortality on the "Irish 
Melodies." 

" Warrior Prince, son of a thousand kings of wave-wreathed 
Erin, hast thou forgotten thine own native land, and the imperisha- 
ble glory of thy sceptered sires ; — those Milesian heroes who were 
towers of fire in the battles of the valiant ? Is the voice of Erin's 
harp still dear to recollection, and gladdening to the soul of Prince 
Mahon, the hope of Innisfail? Listen, O ! Prince, to strains that 
would speak the sorrows of thy oppressed country, and the wailings 
of desponding love. Know then, that Erin, thy country and king- 
dom, invokes thee, her darling son, to return to the throne of thy 
fathers, and rescue her from the fangs of usurpation. 

" Return ! return to green Aelga ! and free thy people who writhe 
in the yoke of despotism. The harps of Tara breathe but the moan- 
ing sounds of wo ! the oaks of thy forests sigh dismally in the breeze ; 
the echoing rocks of Meath respond but to the lamentation of the 
Banshee, and the angry ghosts of thy royal fathers, as they stalk 

* " The passion of love is not only very fruitful of invention, but also exercises 
talents, if it does not give them, which would never have been thought of without 
it; and especially the talent of versification. Thus, whether this young Princess 
ever invoked the Muses before or not, she now composed a poem in praise of the 
heroic actions of Mahon ; and having procured a celebrated musician, to set and 
sing it to the harp, she prevailed on him to go to France and carry a letter from 
her to her lover. The contents of the letter are to be guessed at; but no sooner 
had the bearer got access, delivered his credentials, and sung the poetry which 
accompanied them to the harp, than Mahon was inspired with a resolution of pros- 
ecuting his just claim to the throne of Ireland." — Warner. 

" The amatory and patriotic ode of the Princess Moriat, which is preserved in 
Molloy's illustrations of Irish history, is a composition fraught with beauty of lan- 
guage and melody of measure. I think it must have escaped the observation of 
our great Bard, or he would have given it in one of his deathless meloSies." — 
McDermott. 

"Though the account of the love of Moriat and Mahon wear, seemingly, the 
air of romance, yet there is no fact in Irish history whose truth is better authenti- 
cated." — Lynch. 



123 

over their pathway of clouds, call upon thee to rouse from thy in= 
glorious apathy, and like them, make victory the footstool of thy 
throne. But if thy country cannot awaken pity in thy breast, surely 
love will melt thy sensibility to compassion, as the vernal sunbeams 
dissolve the crystal mirror of the ice-plated Shannon, when hoary 
winter becomes shocked at the reflection of his own austere features. 

" Dost thou still remember Moriat, the maid of thy first love ? 
Has absence obliterated the record of thy solemn vow — has another 
fairer, younger Princess, despoiled the heart shrine in which thy 
young affection placed her image, in that unforgotten, blissful, 
beatified moment, when in sweet whispered words of inspired elo- 
quence, thou passionately assured her that ' thy beloved Moriat 
should be the only divinity that thy feelings and aftections would 
worship V This fondly remembered declaration is the very life of 
her hope — the bright beacon that shines in the wilderness of her 
heart. Return, O ! wandering warrior, to the maiden of thy vow, 
who pines in her lonely bower, as the waves of anguish roll their 
foam over her soul, while she thinks on thee ! Thy presence would 
brighten the darkness of her wo, with the rosy liglit of joy. O ! 
Mahon, canst thou resist the double claim of country and of love, 
while their united voices thus implore thee to fly from a foreig^n 
clime, and bring back comfort, happiness and liberty to thy own dear 
native isle ! Come, gallant Prince, of the race of heroes, to the halls 
of thy kingly sires, and at the head of the warriors of Erin, let thy 
valour and genius irradiate the conflict of fame ; let your might be 
like the spirit of the tempest, uprooting the pines of the hill, and your 
vengeance as destructive as the mountain torrent, rushing in its 
irresistible rage over the pastoral valley of the husbandman! 

" Though Moriat loves thee to the ardour of enthusiasm, and 
though thy death in the strife of spears would blast the verdure of 
joy, and hope, and leave her miserable, sad and inconsolable, like a 
lightning-shivered tree on the stormy hill of life, divested of flowers, 
fruit and foliage, still she would rather be thus bereaved than that 
her lover should be reproached with the shame of the little soul, or 
with a want of the courage and bravery which are the inherent char- 
acteristics of a Milesian hero. Hasten, then, oh ! hasten ! to the 
green fields which are the scenes of the glorious exploits of thy 
fathers : — here every object will proclaim their gallantry — here 
their spirits will inspire thee with invincible courage, and nerve with 
supernatural force the martial arm that shall prostrate the sanguin- 
ary usurper of thy throne." 

These strains fired the patriotism and passion of the prince, and 
awoke in his bosom the tenderest sympathies of love, and the warm- 
est spirit of virtuous ambition. He now decided on making a bold 
effort to pluck his crown from the usurper's brow. To the harper 
he confided a letter for his Moriat, assuring her of his unalterable 
affection, as well as another containing secret instructions to his 
adherents, to devise every mear^s and expedient in their power, in 
order to facilitate the accomplishment of his designs. As soon as 
he despatched the minstrel, he resigned his command in the French 
army, and waited upon his uncle, -who concurred in his project, and 



124 

promptly assisted him with soldiers and other means of carrying it 
into effect. He, with a strong military force embarked, and after a 
short voyage landed in Wexford, where he was proclaimed supreme 
monarch of Ireland. 

The news of his landing communicated " glad tidings" to the Irish 
people, who were sorely afflicted by the tyranny of the usurper, and 
ardently longing for an opportunity of rending the cankering cbain 
which fettered their liberties ; so that, ere the lapse of a week, the 
Prince's ranks were thronged with the majority of the Irish popula- 
tion. The appearance and formidable attitude of Mahon, of whose 
existence Cobhthaigh did not before even dream, struck him with 
panic and dismay. He lost no time in organizing a force to resist 
the invader, but ere he had time to sally forth from his palace of 
Garman* near the Barrow, in the county of Wexford, the daring 
and intrepid Mahon was thundering at his gates. Mahon summoned 
him to surrender ; but the usurper determined on a desperate de- 
fence, answered the requisition in the haughty and derisive language 
of defiance. This insolence provoked the indignation of Mahon, and 
set fire to his irritable spirit. He immediately gave orders for an 
assault, and leading on in person, a chosen body of his guards, he 
scaled the walls, and penetrating with irresistible valour into the 
interior of the palace, put the monarch and all his court to the 
sword. So unexpected was the attack of Mahon on the palace, that 
Cobhthaigh, with numerous guests, among whom, according to the 
Leahhar-Lecan, or Book of Leinster, were thirty Princes, were 
seated at the banquet table, when the assault commenced. 

This signal exploit put him in possession of the throne, which he 
ascended with the general and unanimous consent of the nation. 

As soon as he was inaugurated, on the stone of destiny, at Tara, 
he repaired to the court of his benefactor and friend, the king of 
Munster, and married the lovely Moriat. 

He made extensive conquests in Britain, and after garrisoning 
some fortresses there, he marched into Albania, (Scotland) where 
he exacted tribute and compelled the Pictish king to do him homage 
as his vassal. Dr. O'Halloran and Keating assert in their histories, 
that Maon-Labhra became king of Gaul, on the demise of his uncle, 
but as the French annals take no notice of such an accession, we 
think that monarch never swayed tiie sceptre of Gaul. If he was 
elevated to the throne of that country, as alleged, contempoi-aneous 
history would notice so important an event. The inquisitive reader 
is, however, referred to Dr. O'Halloran's yary ingenious arguments 
in support of the position that he has assumed on this subject. ( Vide 
History, page 165, vol. I.) " The reason," says O'Halloran, "that 
Mahon is better known by our annalists, by the name Labhra, than 
his original one, Maon, is this: as soon as he had surprised and cut 
off his predecessor, a Druid, who was witness of the action, and in 

* " In Garman, near I_iOch- Garman, in the vicinity of Inver-Slaine (now Wex- 
ford) was the chief residence of the provincial kings of Leinster ; a place greatly 
celebrated by the old bards, as the frequent conventions of the states of Leinster 
were held there. It was in this district that Maon, or Malion-Labhra established 
his Gaulish colony, after he had recovered his crown." — O'Connor. 



125 

his interest, cried out hastily, " Does he speak ?" (the opinion of his 
being dumb having a general prevalence,) on which account he went 
ever by the name of Labhra, which signifies speech, to which the 
epithet Luinseach, or the navy, was added, in consequence of his 
having caused several ships to be built in the port of Wexford.* 
We shall not introduce at length into our history, a fabulous tale, 

* To give a comprehensive description of a town like Wexford, which has 
been the scene of so many historical events, from the days of Heremon down to 
the disastrous epoch of 1798, would require more space and time than we can now 
devote to its topography. We must, however, in accordance with our plan of 
illustration, furnish our readers with a local and historical sketch of a place that is 
so famed in our annals. 

The floui-ishing town of Wexford is situated near the sea, upon the pastoral 
banks of the river Slaney, at the distance of ninety-four English miles from Dub- 
lin. The ancient name of Wexford was Inber-SLaine, or the Port of the Slaine. 
Ptolemy, in his Geography, denominates Wexford, Garmana, " from tlie colony 
of Gauls or Germans," says Dr. O'Sullivan, " which Mao7i established there about 
two hundred and seventy years before Christ." It once could boast of its druidical 
temples, feudal castles, and Christian fanes, but the ravages of time and war have 
thrown down the domes and pediments of Wexford. The vesper-bell is not heard' 
in the ruined abbey — the white hands of beauty no longer touch the chords of the 
harp in the halls of the hero — the revels of chivalry no longer break the stillness 
and silence that reign in the desolate pavilions of Dermod,kingof Leinster. The 
ruins of Wexford might warrant a Volney to call this town " acity of sepulchres." 
The inhabitants of Wexford are spirited, affluent, and tasteful, if we were to judge 
from the architecture of their public edifices ; but still, when we contemplate the 
magnificent relics of castles, abbeys, and fortifications, that strew their mouldering 
porticoes, battlements, and arches, in every direction, the hope of even seeino- 
Wexford rise in its pristine pillared grandeur, cannot for a moment be entertained. 
The church. Catholic chapel, court and custom houses, and barracks, are credita- 
ble architective ornaments ; but the narrowness of the streets cast a sombre shade 
over the appearance of the town, and has the effect of giving new buildings the 
gloomy antique aspect of those houses in which Strongbow and his soldiers resided, 
m 1172. Several portions of the strong wall that encircled the town in the days 
of Cromwell, are still standing. The harbour is spacious, but the entrance is 
dangerous, as the sands of two large moles, between which the channel runs, are 
moved and shifted by every tide. It was here Strongbow's forces first landed, 
under Robert Fitzstephens, A. D. 11G9. The town was then garrisoned by the 
Danes, who did not acknowledge the sovereignty of Dermod McMurrough, the king 
of Leinster, so that they refused to open their gates to the invaders, whose whole 
army did not exceed three hundred and eighty men. Immediately after this refu- 
sal, Fitzstephens despatched a messenger to Ferns, then the palace of Derraot, 
requiring aid from him as king of Leinster, to reduce the town, which was speedily 
sent. The inhabitants overawed by the superior force of the allies, surrendered, 
and Dermot made a present of the duties and customs of Wexford to Fitzstephens. 
In 1170, the English garrison was increased by another body of soldiers, under the 
command of Maurice Fitzgerald, the brother-in-law of Fitzstephens. On the 23d 
of August, 1170, Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, at the head of 1100 men, joined 
Fitzstephens here. As soon as Dermot had intelligence of Strongbow's arrival, 
he hastened to Wexford to pay his court to the invader, and concert the plan of 
operation against King Roderick O'Connor. Dermot was accompanied on this 
visit by his beautiful daiighter, Eva, whose charms made a captive of the invader's 
heart, and on the second day after her arrival in Wexford, she was espoused by 
him. The nuptials were celebrated with great pomp and eclat. 

Strongbow, on the death of his father-in-law, (Dermot) assumed the regal 
government of the Province of Leinster, as the heir of the deceased king. Fitz- 
stephens oppressed the inhabitants of Wexford so intolerably, that they only waited 
for an opportunity of expelling by force the English garrison. The occasion they 
so impatiently desired, to avenge their wrongs, in a short time presented itself to 
their wishes. The Governor having marched out with the greater part of the 
garrison, to stop the incursion of O'Moore, the Prince of Leix, the hour of retribu- 
tion was quickly seized upon by the persecuted inliabitants, who rising, en masse, 



J28 

relative to this monarch, which is g^ravely related by Dr. Keating 
and Warner, setting forth, that like Midas, king of Phrygia, he had 
asses' ears, and that in order to conceal the deformity, he caused all 
the hair-cutters who had shorn his locks to be put to death, lest the 
secret might be divulged to his subjects. One man, however, the 
only son of a poor widow, escaped the doom of his predecessors, by 
swearing that he should never reveal lo a human being, what he had 
witnessed when cutting the king's hair. But a secret is so heavy a 
burden, that few virtues can sustain it. The hair-dresser's mind, 
languishing under this load, became impatient to throw off so irk- 
some a pressure. Without divulging the facts, he informed a learned 
Druid, that he possessed a secret which he had solemnly sworn never 
to discover to a mortal being. The Druidical casuist told him, that 
in order to avoid death, and the infamy of perjury, he must go to a 
neighbouring grove of willows, and whisper to the first tree which 
should arrest his eye, the secret. The hair-cutter well pleased with 
this advice, i-eligiously followed its dictates. Sometime after, one 
of the king's Harpers got the devoted tree to which the secret was 
confessed, cut down, and had a harp made out of it. As soon as it 
was strung and finished, the minstrel, on touching its chords, was 
astonished at the expression of the audible sounds " Da cliias capoll 
air Labhradh Luingseach," or in English, Labradh the king, has on 
his head the two ears of a horse. The monarch soon heard of the 
wonderful instrument, and caused it to be brought to him, and when 
he struck its strings, the sounds breathed the offensive expression. 
Mahon's conscience was struck with remorse by this miracle, wrought 
as he supposed by the hand of heaven, to punish him for his cruelty, 
so that in order to expiate his crimes, and propitiate the anger of 
the sun, he ever after openly exposed the deformity of his long ears. 
This poetic fiction was introduced, no doubt, into our history, 

put such of the soldiers in the garrison as offered resistance, to the sword. They 
then sallied out of the town, and waited in ambush the return of Fitzstephens, on 
whom they fell with fury, and succeeded in taking him and his principal officers 
prisoners. On Strongbow's hearing of the misfortune that befel his friend, he 
instantly marched towards Wexford with a strong force, with which he intended 
to punish the Wexfordians for their revolt, and rescue the governor from captivity. 
But as soon as the townsmen were apprised of the Earl's approach they set the 
town on fire, and fled for safety with their prisoners and effects, to Lady Island, 
in Forth. The magnificent abbey of the Blessed Virgin, which the famous poet, 
Saint Fiech, Bishop of Ferns, erected in the fifth century, was destroyed in this 
memorable conflagration. 

As soon as the Wexfordians heard of Henry's arrival in Waterford , they abandon- 
ed the isle of their retreat, and proceeded with their prisoners to the presence of 
the English king, in order to claim his protection, and prefer their complaints against 
Fitzstephens, for his despotic conduct. Henry received them graciously, and not 
only severely reprimanded the ex-governor, but committed him to prison in Water- 
ford. He then, to encourage the Wexfordians to rebuild their town, gave them a 
charter of immunities, which is in force to this day. The town quickly rose like 
like a Phoenix, out of the ashes. Sir John Devereux erected a superb abbey, in 
all the grandeur of Gothic architecture, on the ruins of St. Fiech's superstructure. 
The Talbots and the Fitzgeralds also built churches and religious houses here. In 
the reign of Edward IV. James, Earl of Desmond, then Lord Deputy of Ireland, 
convened a Parliament in this town. 

To narrate the occurrences in Wexford during the reigns of Elizabeth and 
James I. shall be the proper business of our history of those periods. 



127 

" to point a moral," and render more disgusting the visage of 
wickedness. 

Mahon's wise administration proved a blessing to Ireland ; he was 
beloved by his subjects, and respected by the neighbouring nations. 
His passion for military parade and pomp, induced him to keep a 
large standing army in pay, but the justice of his government never 
permitted military despotism to trench on the liberties of the Irish 
nation. He caused his soldiers to arm themselves with the Laighean 
or Gaulish spear, a circumstance from which Leinster derives its 
present name, as the spears were fabricated in Wexford, the^n the 
capital of Galcnian, and in consequence, the ancient Galian, or 
district of the Belgians, was called Coige Laighean, which is the 
province of spears. This monarch, notwithstanding his popularity, 
and the excellence and mildness of his government, was killed in 
battle by his successor, Meilge, or Molbhthack, in the nineteenth 
year of his reign, A. M. 3668. 

The victor was the son of the tyrant Cobhthaigh, and knowing the 
deficiency of his title, he did every thing in his power to ingratiate 
himself in the good opinion of the people. He extended the consti- 
tutional charter so far as to embrace in its scope, all those privileges 
which can guard and secure the privileges of the subject. In conse- 
quence of his legislative enactments, he was honoured with the title 
of " The Praiseworthy." But in these ages the popularity of the 
monarch was but a feeble safeguard to protect the throne from 
revolt ; Meilge was slain by Modh-chorb, of the house of Heber, in 
battle, in the seventh year of his reign, A. M. 3685. This Prince 
was the first of the Heberian dynasty, who was elevated to the Irish 
throne, since Jughaine the Great passed his famous decree of exclu- 
sion against them. 

The royal historian of Cashel designates Modh-chorb with the 
additional appellation of Clare, as his palace of residence was in that 
town. His reign of seven years is not distinguished by any event of 
importance in our annals. He died in battle with his successor, 
Aongus, A. M. 3692. Aongus II. called in consequence of his eru- 
dition, Aongus Ollamh, or the doctor, was the grand son of Maon, 
whose memory the Irish cherished with veneration. This prince 
possessed great military talents, and a courage that gave them full 
scope. If we can credit O'Halloran, he carried the terror of his 
arms into Greece, as the ally of the Gauls. While he was pursuing 
his conquests in foreign countries, his successor. Jar an Gleofathock,. 
promoted an insurrection, which recalled home the monarch in order 
to quell it ; but he fell in the first engagement he fought after his 
return to his kingdom, A. M. 3710, in the eighteenth year of his 
age. The Book of Reigns styles Aongus the " Victorious Conqaeror 
of Greece." " When we compare," writes O'Halloran, "this rela- 
tion with the accounts given us by Greek and Roman writers, of the 
irruption of the Gauls into Greece, and note how exactly the reign 
of Aongus accords with the time of this remarkable invasion, we 
must, I apprehend, be convinced that our annals deserve the highest 
credit." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The leigns of Jarero, Fearchorh, Conla, Olioll III. — of Mamar, Eochaidh VIII., 
Feargus, and of Aongus HI. who icas the ally oftlie Carthaginians. — The acces- 
sion of Connall — of JViadh — Eanda — Criomthan — Ruighruidhe — of Jonadhlhar — 
Breasal — Lughaidh IV. — The laic of Tanistry , and reign of Connall. 

A. M. 3710. Jarero did not enjoy the regal power but for the 
period of seven years ; at the expiration of which he was vanquished, 
and slain in battle, by his successor, Fearchorb, of the house of Heber, 
who, after a reign of eleven years, was in his turn cutoff by Conla, 
the son of Jaran Gleofathach, A. M. 3722. This monarch died a 
natural death at the palace of Tara, after a peaceable reign of five 
years. His son, Olioll, ascended the throne without the opposition 
of a rival. His reign of twenty-five years is not celebrated in our 
annals for any eminent event or martial exploit. He fell in an 
engagement Avith his successor, Adamar, of the royal line of Heber. 
He married, according to the relation of the regal historian of Cashel, 
the fair Fledhis, the princess of Connaught. He fell a victim to the 
avenging sword of Eochaidh, the son of Olioll, in the fifth year of 
his reign. This monarch's reign of eleven years, of which nothing 
particular is recorded, was terminated by the hand of Feargus 
Fortamhuil, or Feargus of the strong arm. This Prince, on ascending 
the throne, displayed a consummate genius for giving lustre to his 
royal station. After enacting wise laws for the government of the 
state, he passed over to his colony of Albany, and thence into Gaul, 
where he and his army nobly distinguished themselves against the 
Romans. But an insurrection, headed by Aongus, compelled him 
to return home from his foreign conquests, and to engage his compet- 
itor, by whom he was slain, near Tara, A. M. 3778. The monarch, 
Aongus, who was known by the appellation of Tuirmheach, or the 
bashful, was the son of Eochaidh VIII. Few kings acquired such 
eminent celebrity in our annals, as Aongus ; for his virtues and his 
vices have equally contributed to consecrate his name to historic 
fame. O'Flaherty, Keating, and Molloy, adduce an irrefragable 
chain of historical evidence to prove that the gallant Aongus, and 
the Irish militia, or the " sacra ct dilecta cohors,^^ performed prodi- 
gies of heroism, as the allies of Carthage, during the second Punic 
war. 

Dr. O'Halloran, a man as conversant with classic literature and 
antiquities, as any historian of his day, in narrating the exploits of 
Aongus beyond the Alps, observes: — "The Irish, far from being 
idle spectators of this war, were deeply engaged in it, as the old 
allies of the Carthaginians. I have already offered my reasons why 
I supposed the Irish were the most friendly and powerful allies of 
Carthage. ***** The Carthaginian swords 

found near the plains of Cannae, and presented by Sir WilHam 
Hamilton to the British museum, being found in figure, texture, and 
length, exactly similar to our ancient ones, adds strength to my con- 
jectures. It has been remarked by Roman writers, that the swords 



129 

of the Gauls were of bad metal, frequently bent, and easily broke and 
battered ; but by the report of the assay-master of the British mint, 
the Carthaginian and Irish swords were of mixed metal, highly 
elastic, and polished, bore a very sharp edge, and so formed as to 
suffer no injury by time or climate. Here, then, is Roman testi- 
mony furnished as to the make of their arms, to distinguish the 
Irish and their allies from the other confederates and enemies of 
Rome." 

In the course of the preceding chapters, we have advanced other 
opinions to sustain, on tenable grounds, tlie hypothesis of O'Hal- 
loran. 

But on the return of Aongus to his kingdom, the diabolical crime 
of incest, committed duiing the madness of intoxication, with his 
own daughter, tarnished the glory of his exploits, and rendered the 
remainder of his days the source of remorse and shame. The fruit 
of this disgraceful and unnatural connexion, was a son, who, the 
moment after his birth, was arrayed in rich i)urple garments, deco- 
rated with jewels, and conveyed privately to an open boat, which 
was set adrift in the ocean. The boat, however, had not been borne 
far on the receding waves, when it was discovered by some fisher- 
men, who humanely took the poor infant on board of their vessel, 
and kindly administered to its wants. The gorgeous dress of the 
hapless babe proclaimed the rank of its unnatural parent, who, in 
Some years subsequently acknowledged the Princf , and bestowed 
large possessions on him in Ulster. He was called Fiacha Prionsa 
an Mara, or the Prince of the sea. "From the posterity of this 
child," says Dr. Warner, " tlujs exposed to almost certain destruc- 
tion either by famine or the waters — so amazing and powerful are 
the works of Providence, came the royal line of Scotland — the 
progenitors, on the British side, of our own illustrious monarch." 
The son of Fiacha became afterwards monarch of Ulster ; and his 
descendants, the O'Connells, O'Connors, M'Dermotts, M'Loughlins, 
O'Farrels, O'Dwyers, O'Ryans, Murphies, and O'Tooles, are the 
proudest names that illuminate the Irish annals.* 

* "Many of the successors of Fiacha became kings of Munster as vteW as of 
Scotland ; and by the female line, his present majesty, George III. is descended. 
Indeed, upon a close investigation of the matter, it appears that children got out 
of wedlock, formerly were very far from being held in a disrespectful light. We 
behold Agamemnon, encouraging Tcucer, the illegitimate son of Telamon, (the 
father of Ajax) to pursue the heroic steps of his brother. Ulysses confesses himself 
the son of a concubine, (Vide Ody. lib. IV. ver. 202.) Gideon, though a judge of 
Israel, had seventy children (Vide Judges, chap. IX.) by different women, and yet 
Abimolech, the issue of a concubine, and even his servant, was chosen king of 
Sechem ! The children of Jacob, got on the bodies of his wives' handmaids,^ are 
ranked with his legitimate ones. The bastard of Normandy became king of Eng- 
land. Thiery, according to Selden, a natural son to Clovis, ranked as his other 
children. In Ireland, in the present and in many succeeding instances, we shall 
see illegitimate children enjoy every rank and dignity in the state, which their 
blood entitled them to ; and some of the most illustrious families in the kingdom, 
derive their origin from similar sources, as the O'Connors, O'Loughlins, McRan- 
nels, &c." — O'IJalloran. 

" From the line of Fiacha, are descended the O'Connors of Kerry and Sligo." — 
Vide Brian O'Connor's History of the County of Kerry. 

" Roderick O'Connor was directly descended from Fergus Mac Roy, king of 
17 



130 

Aongus lived to an old age, and after a reign of forty years, was 
assassinated in a grove at Tara, by his nephew and successor, 
CoNNALL Callambrach. The guilty Connall did not long enjoy the 
power to which cruelty and ingratitude raised him. He was slain 
in battle by Niadh, of the house of Heber, in the fifth year of his 
reign. The Book of Munster relates that the mother of this Prince 
was skilled in magic, and that it was by necromantic spells she enchain- 
ed victory to the standard of her son ; but this is only the poetic 
fiction of some of our ancient bards — for the charms of the sorceress 
were dissolved by Eanda Artac, or Eaiida the bountiful — a designa- 
tion bestowed upon him for his munificent generosity. There is 
nothing of importance recorded of this king, save that, like hundreds 
of his predecessors, his reign of twenty years was closed by the sword, 
in an engagement with Criomthan, whose victory won the Irish 
crown, A. M. 3841. Criomthan had distinguished himself in the 
last reign, by his courage and intrepidity as a warrior. He was the 
grandson of Feargus, the monarch ; so that he came to the throne 
recommended by birth and martial fame. The army were enthu- 
siastically attached to his government. He was called Crosgrachy 
which in Irish signifies the sanguinary slaughterer, in consequence 
of his destructive execution in fight. The fate which attended so 
many of his predecessors' defeat in battle, deprived him of life and 
crown, in the seventh year of his reign. The victor and successor 
to the throne, was Ruighruidhe, whom our annalists honour with the 
appellation of " the Great." This Prince was the son of Sit/irighe, 
of the dynasty of Ir, and was the first of his house, since the famous 
compact made with Jughaine-More, who had the courage to secede 
from its stipulations, and assert the rights of his blood. Irish poets 
and historians have extolled the glorious achievements of Ruighruidhe 
at the head of his militia, while in conjunction with the brave Masi- 
nissa, in the wars of Asdrubal against Scipio. After the termination 
of the third Punic war, and the destruction of Carthage, the monarch, 
with the remnant of his army, returned to his kingdom, where he 
died, at the palace of Airgiodross, in the thirtieth year of his reign. 
The posterity of this renowned monarch were distinguished in Irish 
history by the patronymic designation of " Clana Ruighruidhe.'''' 

The estates of Tara elected Jonadhbhar, of the dynasty of Heber, 
monarch of Ireland. He, a^ soon as the ceremonies of his corona- 
tion were over, embarked at Belfast for Albany, where he compelled 
the Picts to pay him tribute and do him the homage of feudatory 
vassals. Scarcely had he thus humbled the Albanians, when the 
revolt and disaflfection of Breasal Bodhiahha, of the line of Ir, called 
him home, where, on coming to an engagement with his daring 
adversary, he lost his life and crown, in the third year of his reign. 
The victor, of course, took possession of the throne from which he 
was, in his turn, hurled by his successor, Lughaidh IV. The reason 
that Breasal had the surname of Bodhiahha, was because a destruc- 
tive murrain raged amongst black cattle, at the period of his govern- 

Ulster, by the famous Meabha, Queen of Connaught. FroiA this source also sprang 
the O'Connors of Corconjroe, as well as those of Roscommon." — Charles 

O'Connor. 



131 

ment. Lughaidh, who was called Luighne, in consequence of his 
having been educated at the court of Leinster, in Ferns,* is repre- 
sented as a very learned Prince by our historians. The Psalter of 
Cashel records, that it was this monarch originated the law and 
honours of Tanistry. The Tanist we are informed by the learned 
Dr. O'Conry, (who was Roman Catholic Dean of Cloyne, in 1740,) 
in his valuable " Collectanea of Irish Antiquities,'''' was generally 
" the Righ Damnha, or crown Prince, as Lughaidh invested his son, 
Criomthan, with the dignity and authorities of the office. "t 

" We have seen," says Mr. Moore, " that from the earliest times of 
which her traditions preserve the memory, Ireland was divided into 
a certain number of small principalities, each governed by its own 
petty king, or dynast, and the whole subordinate to a supreme 
monarch, who had nominally, but seldom really, a control over their 
proceedings. This form of polity, which continued to be maintained, 
without any essential innovation upon its principle, down to the 
Conquest of the country by Henry II. was by no means peculiar to 
Ireland, but was the system common to the whole Celtic, if not 
Teutonic race, and like all other primitive institutions of Europe, 
had its origin in the east. Without going so far back as the land of 
Canaan, in the time of Joshua, where every city could boast its 

* Ferns, which was for ages the royal capital of Leinster, is agreeably situated 
on the picturesque banks of the Bann, near the junction of that fine river with the 
Slaney, at the distance of 72 miles S. E. from Dublin. Ferns, as a Bishop's See 
was united to Leighlin, A. D. 1600. This town, according to Ware, takes its 
name from the hero Farna, son of Cari, king of the Decies, who was slain here in 
battle, by Gallus, the son of Morna. Before the invasion of the English, this see 
vyas archiepiscopal, as in the early ages of Christianity, the title of Arch-Bishop, 
in Ireland, except that of Armagh, was not confined to any particular diocess, but 
sometimes belonged to one, and sometimes to another, according to the fame and 
sanctity of the prelate who presided. In the noble and affecting ruins of Ferns, 
the antiquary and historian will find much to attract attention, and awaken reflec- 
tion. Among the reliques of its pristine architectural grandeur, the fallen battle- 
ments and broken columns, that once adorned, in " pillared state," the majestic 
palace of Dermod, King of Leinster, are eminently conspicuous, and reverentially 
antique. The cathedral, though modernized in aspect, and " curtailed in the fair 
proportions," which once gave it sucli a venerable and solemn air, is yet a superb 
ecclesiastical structure. Near the ancient marble altar, in the great aisle, is the 
monument of the first Bishop of this See, St. Mouge, who was also the founder of 
the abbey, which he erected here, A. D. 713, for regular Canons, under the invo- 
cation of the Holy Virgin. The episcopal palace, which was built in 1788, by 
Bishop Cope, is a beautiful specimen of Ionic architecture. Its marble portico, 
lofty dome, and copper-covered roof, cannot be excelled by any prelatical residence 
in Ireland. The Glebe house is also large and elegant. There cannot be a more 
beautiful vicinitj', than that which encompasses Ferns ; as every road leading from 
it, passes through flowery lawns, that are arcaded with the luxuriant foliage of 
oaks, elms, and sycamores. Camolin Park, the enchanting residence of Lord 
Valentia, can boast of a magnificence of architecture, and a beauty of domain- 
scenery, which a Barry would love to depict, and a Moore to describe. — Author. 

t " The Righ Damnha was, I am inclined to think, the presumptive heir to the 
ci'own, and often general of the national troops — whereas the Tanist was but the 
heir to a lordship; so that, in consequence, the laws of tanistry were only applica- 
ble to the succession to patrimonial estates." — Lynch. 

" The Irish had for ages their laws of tanistry and gavel kind ; the former for 
the lords of every sept, the latter for lands and family estates. The law of tanistry, 
like the will of Alexander, gave the inheritance to the strongest ; because it 
appears that seniority, if it was not accompanied with superior talent, policy, and 
experience, was very little or not at all recorded." — Warner. 



132 

own king, we find that the small and narrow territory of the Phoeni- 
cians was in a similar manner, parcelled out into kingdoms, and frora 
Homer's account of the separate dominions of the Grecian chiefs, 
it would seem that they also were constructed upon the same 
Canaanite pattern. The feeling of clanship, indeed, out of which 
this sort of government by a chieftainry sprung, appears to have 
prevailed strongly in Greece and to have been one of the great 
cements of all their confederations, war-like or political. 

In none of these countries, however, do the title and power of 
royalty appear to have been partitioned into such minute divisions 
and sub-divisions as in the provincial government of Ireland, where 
in addition to the cliief king of eacli province, every subordinate 
prince, or head of a large district, assumed the title of king, and 
exercised effectually, within his own dominions, all the powers of 
sovereignty, even to the prerogative of making war not only with 
his coequal princes, but with the king of the whole province, when- 
ever he could muster up a party sufficiently strong for such an enter- 
prise. To the right of primogeniture so generally acknowledged in 
those ages, no deference whatever was paid by the Irish. Within 
the circle of tlie near kin of the reigning prince, all were alike eligi- 
ble to succeed him ; so that the succession may be said to have been 
hereditary as to the blood, but elective as to the person. Not only 
the monarch himself was created thus by election, but a successor, 
or Tanist, was, during his life-time, assigned to him by the same 
process : and as if the position alone of heir apparent did not render 
him sufficiently formidable to the throne, the law, in the earlier 
ages, also, it is said, conferred on him the right of being chief gene- 
ral of the army and chief judge of the whole state or kingdom. For 
the succession to the minor thrones a similar provision was made : 
to every petty king a successor was, in like manner appointed, with 
powers proportioned to those of his chief; and thus, in addition to 
the constant dissension of all these princes amongst themselves, each 
saw by his side an adult and powerful rival, chosen generally without 
any reference to his own choice or will ; and as mostly happens, 
even where the successor is so by hereditary right, forming an author- 
ized rallying point for the ambitious and disaffected." 

The learned author of the ^'■Dissertation on the laws of the ancient 
Irish'''' in his observations on the character and power of the Tanists 
(or Thanists, as the erudite lexiographer, O'Reilly, spells them) 
writes, " who ever knows any of Irish history will readily agree, 
that an Irish Thanist of a royal family, even after those of that 
quality were deprived of judiciary power, and not always invested 
with the actual command of the army, was, notwithstanding, held in 
such high consideration, as to be esteemed nothing less than a second- 
ary king. The title of righ daranha, meaning king, in fieri, was 
generally given to the presumptive successor of the reigning king." 
It was from the unfortunate jealousies and dissensions of these pro- 
vincial kings, that the subjugation of the entire nation residted; for 
we find them, on several occasions, arrayed against the chief mon- 
arch, under the banners of Danish and English invaders. O'Reilly, in 
his admirable essay on the " Brchon laws,'" says in allusion to the fatal 



133 

discord which prevailed amongst the Thanists : — " The annals of 
the country bear unanimous testimony to the melancholy truths, 
that in these plundering exjieditions, they (the Danes) were frequently 
aided by some of the native Irish princes, who, either anxious to 
diminish the preponderating power of some neighbouring chieftain, 
or desirous to revenge some real or imaginary insult received, or 
perhaps, willing to share in the spoils of an opulent rival, were 
always forward to join the common enemy." 

The crown of Ireland encircled the brows of Lughaidh only for 
five years, at the lapse of which time, the victorious arm of Connall 
Claringneach, of the Irian dynasty, deprived him of it and of life at 
once. Shortly after his accession to the throne, he raised a formida- 
ble arrny, at the head of which he marched into Munster, where he 
levied contributions, and committed all the flagrant outrages and 
licentious excesses, with which a rapacious conqueror could oppress 
the conquered. But Cairbre Luisg, the king of Munster, made a 
brave stand against the proud invader, under the walls of Cashel, 
and succeeded in utterly annihilating him and all his forces. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



T/ie accession of Duach to the throne of Ireland. — His cruel conduct to his brother 
Deaghadh. — The reigns of Fiaclitna and of Eochaidh IX — Partition of Ireland — 
and the origin of the palace of Cruachan, in Connaught. 

The victory gained by the king of Munster, at Cashel, over 
Connall the monarch, as related in our last chapter, put, as it were, 
the keys of the sovereignty into his hands ; but as Cairbre was old, 
he renounced his right in favour of his eldest son, Duach, whose 
valour had so materially contributed to the glorious result of the late 
decisive battle. He was, therefore, solemnly crowned at Tara, on 
the stone of destiny, A. M. 3912. The elevation of Duach to the 
monarchy, filled the breast of his brother, Deaghadh, with jealousy 
and envy. Under the influence of these passions, which often debase 
our nature, and break through those bonds that blood and gratitude 
have pronounced inviolable, the ambitious Prince resolved to possess 
himself of the crown by the force of the sword. He and his follow- 
ers were not long in fanning the flame of disaffection, or in foment- 
ing to a violent effervescence, the leaven of rebellion. Before, how- 
ever, the Prince and his adherents were ready to take the field 
openly, the monarch was apprised of the existence of the secret mine 
of treason, which was ready to explode, as it were, under his throne. 
He quickly adopted means to frustrate his brother's plans, and avert 
the danger that impended over his head. A Druid was despatched 
by the monarch, to his brother, with an invitation to Court. Dea- 
ghadh, no doubt desirous of ascertaining the strength of the army at 
Tara, gladly accepted the invitation. On his arrival at the palace, 
and as he was sitting down to a banquet, the monarch, in the presence 



134 

of the Druids and nobles, impeached him for treason and ingratitude ; 
and then giving a signal, two executioners entered the royal hall, 
who, seizing the Prince, put out his eyes. In relation to this tran- 
saction, Dr. Keating observes, that as " any bodily imperfection 
rendered a pretender to the throne of Ireland incompetent to reign, 
the deprivation of eyes made Deaghadh incapable of pursuing his 
ambitious designs on the Irish crown." This was, we are informed 
by the royal historian of Cashel, the first instance of this cruel species 
of torture inflicted on princes in Ireland. McDairy, in his valuable 
elegies, furnishes us with the plaintive odes, in which Eithne, the 
Queen of Munster, bewailed the punishment of her son, Deaghadh. 
These affecting effusions are so replete with maternal tenderness and 
sympathetic grief, that we shall shortly give elsewhere, a literal 
translation of them. 

This tale has been, we think, without doubt, foisted into Irish 
history by some bard whose judgment was deluded by imagination 
into the labyrinths of fiction. 

" The learned O'Flaherty treats the above narration," says O'Hal- 
loran, "as a fable; he maintains that Duach had no brother, and 
that he got the epithet Dalta Deaghadh, from the generous reception 
he afforded to the exiled Deaghadh, and from his adopting him as 
his child. But neither the Psalter of Cashel, nor the Book of Lecan, 
which he quotes on this occasion, justify his assertion ; to the reverse, 
the first is my authority for what has been said." 

Dr. Keating concurs with O'Halloran, in asserting that Deaghadh 
was the legitimate brother of the monarch, and not his foster-child, 
as alleged by O'Flaherty and Warner. 

Duach, having exacted an oppressive tribute from the Ultonians, 
they, at the call of Fiachtna, an Irian Prince, rose in arms to avenge 
the aggression. The hostile parties came to an engagement, at 
Rillencoole,* near Dundalk, in the county of Louth, where the 
monarch's army was overthrown, and himself slain, A. M. 3922. 
Deaghadh succeeded his father Carbre on the throne of Munster,t 

* KiLLENcooLE. — The ruins of Killencoole castle are still in good preservation. 
This feudal structure was built in 1312, by Colonel Mapus, who killed Prince 
Edward Bruce at the battle of Dundalk. Contiguous to this venerable castle, 
stands a fine modern mansion, lately inhabited by James Caraher, Esq. From the 
battlements of the castle, a beautiful and romantic view of the Mourne mountains, 
Dundalk bay, and of the picturesque scenery of Clermont Park, Darver, Stephens- 
town, Fane Valley, Corderry, Lurgan-green, and Bragganstown, can be command- 
ed. In our description o? Irish Caves, we have already spoken of the caverns and 
subterraneous apartments that belong to this castle. Some of these vaults are 
twelve feet square ; from one of these a cave runs to the castle of Darver, a mile 
distant. To judge from this subterraneous communication, we agree with Dr. 
Wright in his history of Louth, that these castles, during the warfare of feudal 
chieftains, mutually assisted each other. The cemetery, parish church, and ruined 
priory of Killencoole, are situated about half a mile westward of the castle, near 
the road leading to Ardee. — Author. 

t " The two southern provinces took the name of Mumha from Eochaidh, mon- 
arch of Ireland, several ages before the incarnation. It was inhabited by the south 
Iberians, named Juverni, who took their name from Eber-Finn, the eldest son of 
Gollamh, of Spain, the common father of the Milesian race. Some time before 
the birth of Christ, the Earnaidhs of Ulster, of the posterity of Olioll-Aron, obtain- 



135 

and our annalists praise him for the wisdom and justice of his admin- 
istration. The victory of Rillencoole paved the way for Fiachtna 
to the throne, which he mounted without opposition. The talents 
of this Prince were equally calculated for the field, and the cabinet; 
and his regal government of sixteen years is highly lauded by our 
historians for its prudence and policy. But virtue, in these times, 
was no security against ambition. The aspiring Eochaidh, of the 
dynasty of Heremon, promoted a revolt, which put a period to the 
life and reign of Fiachtna, at the battle of Dromchriadh, in the 
county of Gal way. Eochaidh IX. immediately after the death of his 
predecessor, proceeded to Tara, where the servile Druids cheei-fully 
placed the rojal diadem on his head. The mother of this Prince, 
was Benia, daughter of Criomthan, son to the monarch Lughaidh. 
Eochaidh was known by the distinctive appellation of Feid-lioch, or 
the wailing king of sadness, in consequence of the melancholy dejec- 
tion which he frequently expressed, in heavy sighs, after the death 
of his three sons, at the battle which gave him the possession of the 
crown. " The word Feid," says Keating, "in the Irish, signifies as 
much as a great length, in English — and Och ! is the Irish term for a 
sigh, which gave occasion to his name." The grief of the monarch for 
the three gallant youths, whom he so affectionately loved, preyed 
acutely upon his spirits until he descended to his grave. His Queen, 
Clooth, called Fionn, or the fair, was the mother of these warrior 
Princes at one birth ; hence they were denominated the three 
^'' Finneamhna" or the issue of the fair Queen, born at once. This 
monarch, having no son to succeed to his crown, came to the deter- 
mination of parcelling out the five provinces as principalities for his 
relatives and favourites. By adopting this mode, he abrogated the 
established ordinances of Hugony, and made, as it were, himself 
the absolute head of a pentarchial governmentj, extending over the 
five principalities of Munster, Leinster, Connaught, Ulster, and 
Meath.* At this juncture, Connaught was governed by its own 
hereditary Princes of the Danaan race, who did not feel quite dispos- 
ed to the delegated vicegerency of Eochaidh. But the boldness and 
spirit of the remonstrance which the Connaught chiefs transmitted 

ed great power in Munster, under their leader, Deaghadh, who afterwards became 
king of the province, which was afterwards governed by his descendants until the 
invasion of Strongbow." — O'Connor. 

* " Meath, during the Milesian monarchy, always appertained to the crown, as 
the private domain of the reigning sovereign." — O'Flaherty. 

It was in the reign of Henry VIII. that the districLof Meath was divided into 
two counties, as appears by the following extract, which we take from Hol- 

LINSHED : 

" In the foure and thirtieth year of king Henrie the eighth, it was enacted in a 
Parlement holden at Dublin, before Sir Anthony Sainteleger, knight, Lord 
Deputie of Irelande, thet Meetli should be divided andmaae into two shires, one of 
them to be called the countie of Meeth, the other to be called the county of West 
Meeth, and that there should be sheriffes and officers convenient within the same 
shires, as is more fully expressed in the act aforesaid." 

The county of Meath is thirty-six Irish miles long, and thirty-five broad. It 
contained, according to a report laid before the Catholic Association, in 1826, 147 
parishes, and a population of 114,793 souls. West Meath is 38 Irish miles long 
and 24 in breadth, comprehending 63 parishes, whose aggregate population amount- 
ed in 1826, to 75,000 inhabitants. 



136 

to the court of Tara, foi- tlie purpose of intimidating Eochaidh, 
instead of awakening a sense of justice in the mind of the monarch, 
served, on the contrary, to provoke his indignation. He, in this 
spirit, summojied the national representatives, and in a warm speech, 
in which he drew an exaggerated picture of the ambition of the 
Connacian Princes, and intimated that the safety of the state rendered 
it absolutely necessary to reduce them to a more abject dependence on 
the monarchy of Ireland. The legislative body readily gave their 
sanction to the measures, which the King proposed for the attain- 
ment of his purpose. 

To carry his plan into effect, he resolved, like Constantine, 
to remove the seat of government, and to build a palace in Con- 
naught, which should exceed in magnificence of architecture that 
of Tara. The architectural genius of the kingdom was, in conse- 
quence, called into action on this occasion. The Druids, after offer- 
ing sacrifices to the sun, and performing the rites and ceremonies 
usual on such occasions, told the monarch that the propitious site of 
the intended palace should be at Druim na Ndruidh, an eminence in 
the county of Roscommon, now known by the name of Cmachan. 
TheKing, with a numerous retinue of courtiers, architects, and sculp- 
tors, set out for Connaught, in order to commence the great work. 
As soon as he had arrived, he despatched heralds to the tributary 
Princes, requiring their immediate attendance at Cruachan. They 
speedily waited upon him. When they cam.3 into his presence, he 
informed them of his design, and then intimated to each of the aston- 
ished chiefs the quota of money, marble, oak, and artisans, which he 
had to furnish to the completion of the structure. Two of these 
Princes, Eochaidh-Allat and Fiodhaidh, having more spirit than 
prudence, in their present circumstances, absolutely refused confor- 
mity to the requisition, and asserted that as they had, as tributary 
Princes, paid their allotted proportion of the royal taxes, and im- 
posts, they were, therefore, determined to submit to no other exac- 
tions, except a decree of the national convention would render it 
imperative on them to make the demanded contribution. This bold 
and energetic declaration was scarcely uttered, when another Prince, 
Tinne, the son of Conrach, then Prince of Galway and Sligo, pro- 
fessed his cheerful willingness to contribute his quota. The monarch, 
feeling as highly gratified at the prompt acquiescence of Tinne, as 
he did before enraged at the refusal of his compeers, assured him 
that, as a token of his satisfaction and esteem, he would not only 
reward him with the hand of his daughter, the famous and lovely 
Meibhe, but also with the territories of the refractory Princes. On 
the following day, the Arch-Druid united Tinne and Meibhe in the 
bonds of matrimony. The building of the Palace was soon complet- 
ed ; for we are told by Keating and O'Flaherty, that so great was 
the number and application of the workmen, that the immense ram- 
part which surrounded the majestic pile, and numerous courts, was 
completed in one day. The magnanimity, noble bearing, and attrac- 
tive manners of Tinne, won the favour and affection of the monarch, 
who appointed him his heir, and caused him to be crowned king of 
Connaught. On the day of the inauguration of his son and daughter. 



137 

he made them a present of his new palace, which then bore the name 
of Rat?i Eochaidh; but the young Queen, after her father's depar- 
ture for Tara. called it, in honour of her mother, the Palace of 
CruacJian, by which designation it is known at the present day. Dr. 
Keating, in relation to these occurrences, quotes the lines in which 
an ancient poet commemorated them : — 

" The royal Palace of Rath Eochaidh, 

Was called Druin Druagh and Tuluig- Aidne ; 

But afterwards obtained a nobler name, 

Of Rath Cruachan, from the virtuous lady, 

Cruachan Crodhearg." 

Eochaidh, borne down by inconsolable sorrow, occasioned, as we 
have already mentioned, by the death of his three sons, died at Tara, 
in the twelfth year of his reign. After his obsequies were performed, 
with great pomp, at Tara, his body, in conformity with his dying 
request, was interred in the cemetry of Cruachan.* 

Tinne, on whom the Connacian Princes looked with an eye of 
vindictive jealousy, was slain about this period by Maceacht, the son 
of one of the expelled Princes; but as the brother of Eochaidh, the 
late monarch, succeeded to the throne of Ireland, he sent an army 
into Connaught, to maintain the rights of his niece, as sole Queen 
of the province. This Queen, who is so celebrated in our history, 
for her learning, beauty, and gallantries, after the lapse often years, 
subsequent to her late husband's death, during which period her 
administration was signally eminent for wisdom, clemency, and 
talent, in obedience to the wishes of her uncle, the monarch, mar- 
ried Olioll More, brother to Carbre, king of Leinster, and of the 
dynasty of Heremon. This union not only appeased the angry 
complaints of the Connacians, who Avere dissatisfied under the scep- 
tre of a woman, but effectually secured their loyalty ; for Olioll was 
a native of their own province, as his mother was Matha Muircarg, 
the daughter of one of their Princes ; so that his participation in 
their government silenced the clamours of disaffection, and deranged 
the plans of conspirators. 

* " Eochaidh IX. and many other of our heathen kings, were buried in the 
royal cemetery of Relic na Riogh, (the grave of the kings) at Cruachan, in the 
county of Roscommon. Dathy was the last pagan monarch interred here. The place, 
which is gone to decay, is of a circular form, encompassed with a rampart faced 
with stone, and planted with hawthorn trees. This " Hill of Graves," is one hun- 
dred and sixteen yards in diameter. Golden urns and helmets have been found in 
it." — Brian O'Connor. 

" We find this place celebrated in the days of St. Patrick, as one of the royal 
houses of Loaghaire." — O'Hallokan. 



18 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Reign of Eochaidh X. — The Queen of Connaught prevails on her husband to invade 
Ulster. — Her intrigue with Fergus, the Crown Prince of Ulster. — The loves of 
JYaisi and Deidre, and their death. 

The brother of the late monarch of Ireland, Eochaidh IX. as 
narrated in our last chapter, ascended the throne, under the assumed 
name of Eochaidh, by which designation he concluded he would at 
once strengthen his popularity, and evince a due reverence for the 
memory of his fraternal predecessor. His coronation was celebrated 
with the most magnificent splendour at Tara. 

All the provincial Princes, and their wives, with the ladies of their 
courts, attended to give pomp and eclat to the gorgeous spectacle 
which this inauguration exhibited. The fair and graceful Meibhe, 
Queen of Connaught, did the honours of the court on this occasion, 
and her peerless charms and fascinating manners, eclipsed all rival 
beauties, and concentrated the esteem and admiration of that circle, 
in which she shone as the moon among the stars. Fergus, the 
nephew of Connor, king of Ulster, and the heir apparent of the throne, 
was captivated by her loveliness ; she attracted every feeling of pas- 
sion that desire can kindle in the heart of man ; but her marriage 
with another, placed a barrier in the way of his affection. Hope, 
however, told him that this barrier was not insurmountable ; and 
influenced by tlie promises of this deity of lovers, he availed himself 
of the first opportunity tliat offered to make known to the Queen, 
the passion with which she inspired him. At the moment Fergus 
made this declaration, the bosom of Meibhe glowed with a kindred 
flame ; for the Prince of Ulster, we are told by our annalists, was 
the flower of chivalry, and the paragon of manly beauty. 

As soon as the lovers understood each other, they privately gave 
themselves up to the indulgence of their criminal desires ; and so 
secretly did they manage their clandestine assignations, that they 
evaded the jealousy of her husband, Olioll, and the suspicion of the 
prying courtiers, who are generally as watchful of the progress of 
love intrigues in a palace, as Argus was of the amours of Jupiter 
and lo. When the king and Queen of Connaught were returning to 
their own home, they solicited Fergus to accompany them, and 
become their guest at Cruachan. 

The Prince, as the reader may suppose, joyfully accepted the 
invitation. At this period, Olioll was eighty years of age, so that 
Fergus and the Queen easily carried on their illicit enjoyments, so 
as to elude his vigilance, and have no grounds for his jealousy. 
The fruit of this adulterous love, was three boys called respectively 
Ciar, Core and Commac, from whom some of the most distinguished 
Irish chieftains have sprung. 

" Ciar, the eldest," says Keating, " gave names to Ciaruidh, 
(Kerry,) from Core, is derived the illustrious O'Connor's of Offally ; 
and from Commac, sprang all the worthy families of the Commaicnies 
in Connaught. To illustrate this with more authority, I refer to a 



13^ 

very ancient poem, composed by Lughair, an eminent Poet and an- 
tiquary of the fifth century ; the first verse begins thus, Clana, Fear- 
gusa, Clana os Cach : — when it appears evidently, that the three 
sons of Meibhe Cntachan, obtained possessions and authority, as 
well in the province of Connaught, as in Munster, which may be 
further proved by observing, that the counties irrthose two provinces, 
are known by the names of these Princes until this day."* 

While Fergus was thus intoxicated with the stolen transports of 
clandestine love, he was roused from the dream of delusion, by a 
peremptory mandate from his uncle, the kingof Ulster, commanding 
his immediate attendance at the palace of Emania. 

With the behests of this summons, a sense of duty compelled him 
to comply, however painful the separation from the fair object of his 
affections might prove to his feelings. When Fergus arrived at the 
palace of Ulster, his uncle informed him, that Naisi or Naois, his. 
sister's son, by Usnach,t had seduced a beautiful lady of the name 
of Deidre, from under his protection, with whom he eloped to 
Albania. The king further signified to him, that the fugitives were 
received with high honours of hospitality, at the Albanian court, 
which he considered a contravention of the amicable and friendly 
relation, which heretofore subsisted between the courts of Ullin and 
Albania; and that in consequence, he had declared war against the 
Albanian king, whose territories he purposed to invade with a potent 
army, of which he apppointed him (Fergus) the chief. But the 
heart of Fergus at this moment, was the slave of Cupid ; it repu- 
diated Mars, and abjured the passion of military glory ; and like the 
infatuated Roman, he could renounce the honours and wealth of 
the world, for the blissful caresses of the Irish Cleopatra, the Queen 
of Connaught. 

* " Fergus Mac Roy, (or the king's son) was expelled from Ulster, by his uncle 
Connor, the reigning king. He was kindly received by the famous Meibhe, 
Queen of Connaught, who fell in love with him and bore him three sons, the 
remote ancestors of the O'Connor family." — O'Flaherty. 

" By that amorous heroine, Fergus got three sons, the fathers of several great 
families in Munster and Connaught." — Charles O'Connor. 

" From this source, however, discreditable in its origin, came the regal O'Con- 
nors of Kerry, Clare, Roscommon, Sligo and OfFally." — Brian O'Connor. 

t " Usnaeh was the chieftain of Donegal, who flourished about a century before 
Christ; he married the Princess Alva, the sister of Connor McNess, king of 
Ulster, with whom he became the lather of Naisi, Ainli and Arden, as we are in- 
formed by the genealogist of the O'Neils — in the Irish poem, which we have 
rendered into English for these transactions. The following stanza alludes to the 
renowned sons of Usnaeh, or Visneach as Keating has it. 
" Alva's three sons, impetuous in the fight. 
Were Naisi, Ainli, — Arden's conquering might," &c. 

Transactions of the Gaelic Society. 
" Cuchullin and Connal Carnach, whose gallant achievements have afforded 
such a scope to the genius of the Irish Bards, were also the nephews of Connor by 
his sisters, Detin and Fincaeva, as the Minstrel sings — 

" From Detin heav'nly fair ! Cuchullin came, 
Whom high Dundalgan honor'd with its name ; 
A heroic chief! Son of a warrior sire. 
Swept the wide field, and made whole hosts retire, 

Fincaeva, the snow-necked fair, 

Own'd Connall Carnach her illustrious heir.'' 

Vide Leahy's translation of the death of the sons of Usnaeh. 



140 

His arguments and remonstrances, however, so far prevailed with 
the king, that he consented to send Fergus to the Albanian court, 
as his ambassador, invested with powers to demand reparation and 
tribute from the king of that country, as well as the surrender of 
Naisi and Deidre to his custody. Fergus undertook this mission, 
with that pleasure and alacrity which spring from two powerful 
motives — friendship and love. He was the cousin and attached 
friend of Naisi, whom he hoped to have quickly reinstated in the 
cordial graces of his uncle, which when accomplished, there would 
be no grounds for his detention from the beloved mistress of his 
heart. He, therefore, set out on his embassy, with a determination 
of having its object speedily attained. As the fatal charms of Deidre 
produced as disastrous evils in Ireland, as those of Helen did in 
Troy, we shall give here a succinct account of the celebrated Ultonian 
beauty.* 

Shortly after Connor's accession to the throne of Ulster, his prime 
minister and chief laureate, Feidhlim, invited the monarch and all 
his nobility to a sumptuous entertainment, which he gave on the 
occasion of the birth of a daughter. When the infant was presented, 
the Arch-Druid and Prophet, exhibited looks and gesticulations 
expressive of the utmost horror. All present, were struck with fear 
and amazement. In answer to the king's inquiry of the cause of 
such a strange indication, the Druid declared that the child was 
born to bring disaster and destruction upon Ulster, and that its beauty 
would inflame the hearts of Princes and chieftains with such destruc- 
tive fires of love, revenge and jealousy, as would reduce the lofty domes 
of Emania to a heap of ashes. This appalling prediction, thrilled 
every bosom with the feelings of apprehension and dread ; — and the 
king anxiously asked, how the threatened fate might be averted. 
The Druid replied, that nothing could cancel the decree of destiny, 
but the instant death of the child, as a propitiatory oblation on the 
altar of Bel. No sooner had the Druid expressed this opinion, than 
all the company, except the parents of the devoted infant, unanimously 
called for the expiatory sacrifice. 

But the king said that he would never give his sanction to the 
violent death of a smiling innocent. "I will take care," said he, 
" to disappoint the accomplishment of the prophecy, by breeding up 
the child under my own inspection, and, perhaps, when she arrives 
at maturity of years, I may marry her, for she that is so perfectly 
beautiful as a babe, must grow up a charming maid of the most fas- 

* " On the subjection of Ireland, by the Milesians, and after Heremon made a 
partition of the whole Island into five districts, Ulster, comprehending- the nine 
northern counties of Donegal, Londonderry, Antrim, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Armagh, 
Down, Monaghan and Cavan, were assigned to his nephew, Heber, as a feudatory 
principality." — Hamilton's letters on the Statistics of Ulster. 

" What name Ulster bore under the early Milesian Princes, is not known. In 
Ollamh Fodhla's time, or soon after, it got the name of Uladh, in memory, it is 
said, of the renowned regal legislator. It continued under that appellation, until 
the fifth century ; when it was dismembered by the Hy Nialls. The ancient 
geographers, denominated the several tribes of this province, by the distinctive 
appellation of Clanna Ruraighdhe, and Clanne Ultaidh, the latter of which is 
in use to this day, among the native Irish." — Dissertations on the history of 
Ireland, 



141 

cinatlng loveliness. As Queen of Ulster, she will be a blessing to 
my subjects instead of an evil." The servile nobles assented to the 
wishes of the king ; but the stern Druid boldly asserted, that human 
power could not frustrate the fulfilment of a divination that was 
prompted by the deity. Thus was the fate, to which the infimt 
Deidre was then doomed, surmounted. 

The king having obtained a reluctant permission from the bereaved 
parents, had the child given in charge to a proper nurse, and removed 
to one of the strongest towers of his palace. Here no person was 
to be admitted without presenting the governess, Leabharcham, a 
written order, bearing the signature- and signet of the king. 

This nurse and Governess of Deidre, was, we are told by our annal- 
ists, a woman of elegant accomplishments ; who was not only a profi- 
cient in music, but so natural and facile a poetess, that she could 
compose extemporaneous verses so rapidly, as to make them keep 
pace and concord with the melody of her harp. Under the instruc- 
tions of this poetic Sappho, the young Deidre imbibed the spirit of 
song, and attained the elegance of an enlarged and elevated educa- 
tion. The king, who constanly visited his little ward, was daily 
delighted to witness the germinating blossoms of her genius and 
beauty. When she had reached her tenth year, he introduced her 
to the Arch-Druid, who had pronounced the inauspicious prediction, 
and he was transported with admiration at the precocity of her 
talent, and at the perfection of her personal charms. He declared 
to the king, that she promised to be the most beautiful Queen, that 
ever graced the throne of Ulster. Within the gloomy cells of this 
prison-castle, the beauteous Deidre was confined until she reached 
her fifteenth year, when the king invited her and Leabharcham to 
court. Shortly after her arrival in the royal palace, she witnessed 
from the window of her apartment, the chivalric feats of the knights 
of the red-branch as they contended for the prizes before the king 
and nobles. In these contests, the skill and expertness with which 
one young knight, of the most prepossessing appearance, wielded 
his spear and pierced brazen shields, and unhorsed all his high- 
plumed adversaries, particularly arrested her attention, and awoke 
feelings in her heart, to which it was before a stranger. This young 
and gallant knight, was Naisi, the nephew of the monarch. She 
concealed from her nurse for that evening, the passion with which 
the manly form, and warlike exploits of Naisi inspired her bosom, 
where his image was already entlironed too firmly, to be supplanted 
even by a kingly rival. Soon after the feat of tournament, she 
happened to see from her window, a man, on a snowy day, killing a 
calf in the court yard, and as he removed the carcass, a raven came 
to feed upon the blood. " Behold !" exclaimed she, as she directed 
the Governess's eye to the scene, " the emblems of the young knight, 
who bravely conquered all his antagonists, in the exploits of the 
chivalry yesterday ; — his manly person is adorned by the three 
colours we now see ; for his skin is as white as the snow, his hair is 
glossy with the shining black that enamels the raven's wing, and his 
fresh blooming cheeks, are more red than the calf's blood that 
crimsons the snow. O, tell me his name, kind benevolent nurse ! 
and gratify thy Deidre, for I long to hear it expressed." 



142 

The nurse gave her every information that she required, and after 
a few entreaties she consented to bring Naisi privately into the 
castle ; for she regarded Deidre with the most fond and tender 
affection. Naisi was transported with joy when he became acquaint- 
ed with Deidre's passion for him, and consequently, he lost no time 
in devising means to steal into the forbidden castle. The first glance 
of Deidre's winning charms, made a captive of his affections, and 
the first words uttered by his tongue, were eloquently expressive of 
the ardour of his unalterable attachment, and solemnly asseverative 
of his inalienable constancy. The reciprocation of assurances of 
love, and the interchange of vows of eternal fidelity, rendered the 
moments that were occupied in this interview, the source of ecstatic 
rapture to the impassioned lovers ; so that it was with difficulty, the 
Governess could tear Naisi from the arms of the fond and adoring 
Deidre. 

Prior to his departure, however, he arranged the plan of elopement 
with his beloved fair. Gold and jewels bribed the fidelity of the 
Governess, so that the feat of carrying off the lady promised such 
little danger, that the genius of chivalry would blush, were she to 
emblazon the deed on her records. When Naisi at midnight returned 
to his residence, he despatched a faithful Herald* to Armagh, to his 

* The Irish Heralds held a high rank in Milesian chivalry ; they proclaimed 
war, and challenged rival knights to the combat. Every knight of the red-branch 
had his Herald. The ancient Irish held the character of the Heralds, as sacred and 
inviolable as that of their Bards ; so that they could enter like the Minstrel, without 
danger, the castle of the enemy, or the ranks of opposing armies. Ware and 
Archdall, maintain that the origin of the Heraldic office in Ireland, is to be traced 
to the institutions of Ollamh Fod/da ; but we have already adduced evidence, in 
our history, that Heber and Heremon, introduced Heraldry in Ireland ; yet we 
are ready to admit, that the glorious era, of the reign of our great legislator, is the 
date of the Heraldic institution, in the form of a College at Tara. Their duties 
were to paint the armorial devices of each chief on his shield and banner, to arrange 
the order of precedence at the National assembly, and royal banquets; to proclaim 
the laws, denounce traitors, and summon the tributary kings and princes to the 
presence of the monarch. 

By the ancient medals, which have been dug up in several parts of Ireland, and 
that are now in the Museum of the Dublin Society, it appears that the Herald 
was arrayed like the Bard in a long flowing tunic, and that he bore in his hand, 
a white wand, surmounted with the golden head of a serpent. Vallancey and 
other antiquarians conjecture, that these medals were struck long before the intro- 
duction of Christianity into Ireland. Harris advances strong and cogent arguments 
to prove, that the French borrowed their ideas of Heraldry from the Irish. " As," 
says this learned antiquarian, " the French had no regular body of men, charged 
with the care of armories, processions and ceremonies, until A. D. 1031, when we 
find mention in their chronicles, of Robert Daupin, as their first king at arms. In 
England, it does not appear that any such officer as the Herald, was ever employ- 
ed on missions by William the Conqueror, or either of his sons ; and it was half a 
century after the invasion of Ireland, that the office was introduced among the 
English warriors, who, no doubt, took their original idea of it from the Irish 
Princes." 

In the reign of Brian the Great, our annals tell us, that his Heralds were invested 
with the highest privileges of the order ; they were allowed free entrance into the 
palaces of the provincial kings, and the fortified castles of the chieftains ; they 
reproved king Malachy, for his defection in the midst of his household troops; 
they summoned O'Neil, to make homage to Brian as monarch of Ireland, they 
adjusted the tournaments, and laid out the lists for the knightly combatants, who 
contested for the prizes of chivalry, on the celebration of Brian's accession to the 
throne. On the day of battle, they generally retired to an eminence, where they 



143 

brothers, Arden and Ainli, with a letter apprising them of his passion, 
and his determination of eloping with Connor's beautiful captive to 
Albania, and soliciting them to accompany him in his flight, with a 
chosen band of armed followers. The brothers, though they regard- 
ed the enterprise as one of extreme hazard and rashness, still loved 
their brother so afiectionately, that they generously resolved to co- 
operate in the romantic adventure. The night fixed on for the 
deliverance of the damsel, was that which the king had appropriat- 
ed for giving a feast to his nobles. Naisi was one of the guests, and 
he remained at the banquet table until near midnight, when wine 
and mirth so engaged the attention of the revellers, that he easily 
retired from them un perceived. Upon entering the castle, he was 
rejoiced to find his dear Deidre, and her nurse, ready for flight. 
They hastily issued from the castle, and mounting fleet coursers, 
they succeeded in reaching Donaghadee,* as soon as the first ray of 
the dawn glanced on the summit of the mountain. 

On approaching the harbour they were gladdened by beholding 
Ainli and Arden, at the head of one hundred and fifty resolute 
soldiers, ready to receive them. 

They hurried on board of the vessels that were prepared to trans- 
port them to Albania. After landing, they set out for the royal 
residence, where the king gave them a reception that was cordial 
and friendly, and quite worthy of the rank of his guests. When 
Deidre appeared at the banquet, her extraordinary beauty conveyed 
the flame of admiration to the bosoms of the men, and the devouring 
fire of envy to those of the women. She shone on this occasion, 
the magnetic luminary of the circle ; — attracting every eye, and 
agitating every heart by her charms. The king was so deeply 
enamoured of her captivating loveliness, that he could scarcely re- 
frain from uncourtly rudeness, even at the banquet. Influenced by 
his ardent passion, he resolved to do every thing to seduce the 
lovely Irish lady, from the bosom of her husband. But the first 
billet-deux that-Deidre received from him, she, with commendable 
prudence, showed to her lord, who felt so indignant at the insult^ 
that he challenged the king to a single combat, after reproaching 
him with his breach of the laws of decorum and hospitality. This 
challenge the monarch did not think proper to accept. Naisi beino- 
too proud to brook the insult, came to the determination of remov- 
ing to the Isle of 3Iona, or Man, as he could not think of remaining- 
in the territories of a sensual Prince, who sought to dishonour his 
bed. But he and his followers had not proceeded far on their march, 
when they were overtaken by the king's troops, on whom the Irish 
turned, and after an obstinate contest, compelled the Albanians to 

could witness the progress of the conflict , and distinctly mark the achievements 
of the valiant, in order that they might record them on the page of fame, and 
afterwards emblazon with another symbolic device of valour, the shields of the 
heroic brave. 

* Donaghadee is a thriving and animated village, in the county of Down, 
situated on the sea coast, at the distance of 15 miles N. E. from Belfast. The 
mail packets, and several Steam-boats daily sail from this port, to port Patrick in 
Scotland, across a channel of seven leagues. There is a fine light-house for the 
direction of mariners at Donaghadee. 



144 

fRtreat in disorder with considerable loss. Naisi, in consequence of 
this formidable resistance, was not again assailed on his march to 
the coast. As soon as he arrived in the Isle of Man, he sent a 
Herald to his friends Cuchnllin and Connall Carnach, demanding a 
supply of forces, to enable him to resist the aggressive attack which 
he dreaded from the Albanian king. On the receipt of Naisi's des- 
patches, Cuchullin, Connall, and several others of the nobles of 
Ulster, waited on the king, and implored him to evince his usual 
magnanimity and clemency in pardoning Naisi, and recalhng him 
home. 

This intercession of the nobles, had the effect of extorting from 
Connor a reluctant concession. "When Naisi learned that the king- 
had granted permission for his return, he signified to his friends, that 
it would be necessary in order to attest Connor's sincerity, whose 
vengeance he still feared, that three hostages should be given to him 
as a security for his, and his followers' safety. 

No sooner was this request of Naisi communicated to Connor, 
than he manifested an affected willingness to accede to it ; as all he 
wished for was to allure Naisi to his palace, in order that he might 
let loose upon him, the furies of vengeance and jealousy. He, 
therefore sent, as we before related, his heir apparent, Fergus, 
and his natural son, Cormoc Conloingios, as the guaranties of his 
faith and honour. 

As exile was become painful to Naisi, he was delighted, when 
those distinguished hostages arrived, with whom he joyfully returned 
to his own native land. Connor, meanwhile had spies, watching 
their arrival on the coast, and as soon as he understood that they 
had landed, he sent his principal commander, Eogan, at the head of 
a select body of troops, with secret orders to fall upon Naisi, his 
two brothers and followers, and put them without mercy to the sword. 

Fergus having accepted the proffered hospitality, of the high 
chamberlain of Connor, who had a villa on the coast of Ulster, 
remained behind, but Naisi, and his party, as well as Fergus's three 
sons, Fiachadh, Illan and Buini, continued their journey, until they 
came to a defile near Emania, where they perceived Eogan and his 
forces posted. This array at first, created a little alarm, in the 
mind of Naisi ; but when he perceived Eogan coming towards him, 
in the seeming attitude of friendship, his suspicions were instantly 
dissipated, and he rushed forward in full confidence to meet the 
General ; but no sooner had Naisi given him his hand, than the base 
and treacherous Eogan thrust his spear through his noble heart; 
this was tlie signal for the assassin's soldiers to attack the rest of 
Naisi's band. The gallant Fiachadh enraged to desparation at the 
foul act, rushed on Eogan, and assailed him fiercely, but after a 
brave and desperate struggle, he fell mortally wounded. Arden 
and Ainli, met a similar fate from the swords of their numerous 
foes. Poor and hapless Deidre, who witnessed the tragic occurrence, 
was just in the act of unsheathing a sword to stab herself, when she 
was rudely seized by Eogan, and borne in a state of insanity to the 
court of Emania. So vindictive and ignoble was the jealousy of 
Connor, that he was so little minded as to load the fair and unhappy 



145 

maniac with vituperative reproaches. The moment Fergus heard 
of the atrocious and flagrant deed, he was seized with the feelings 
of indignation, and the desire of revenge. His uncle had sacrificed 
his honour, by causing the assassination of the sons of Usnach, for 
whose safety he was responsible. The vile treacherous act of Con- 
nor, roused the horror and resentment of the province, so that the 
moment Fergus raised the standard of revolt, the people flocked 
round it, impatient for revenge. A battle soon ensued in which 
Connor was decisively defeated, and his son, Maine, and 300 of his 
best soldiers were killed. The victorious army then entered the 
palace, which they plundered, after putting all the inmates, without 
distinction, to the sword. But Connor and his shattered army, in a 
day or two rallied from their position, in the mountains, and suc- 
ceeded in compelling Fergus to retreat to Dundalk. 

Fergus occupied an eminence adjoining Dundalk, now known by 
the name of Castletown,* where he made a stand, and risked a battle 
with the royal army of Ulster. In this sanguinary conflict, which 
was contested with consummate generalship, and heroic valour, the 
king's troops gained a signal, but a dear-bought victory. Fergus 
and the shattered remnant of his army, retreated or fled to 
Connaught. 

The reader may conclude that Fergus experienced no difficulty 
in recruiting his army, or in negotiating a loan of money in Con- 
naught, when the Queen was his devoted lover and fond paramour. 
His army, composed of the flower of the knights of Leinster and 
Connaught, swelled to a formidable number, that threatened ruin 
and subjugation to devoted Ulster. Eochaidh, the supreme monarch 
of Ireland, at the instance of the Queen of Connaught, denounced 
the flagitious conduct of Connor, in the National assembly, and 
recommended the estates to embody an army, that should aid Fergus 
to avenge the cruel murder of the sons of Usnach. The recommen- 
dation of the monarch was quickly acted upon ; and a formidable 
column of troops, among whom were some of the most gallant knights 
of Ireland, speedily formed a junction with the forces of Fergus. 
The accession of such strength, rendered the army of Fergus pow- 
erful in the extreme, and removed every doubt that could be enter- 
tained of its competence to achieve the easy conquest of the Ultonians. 
The Queen, like a second Semiramis, accompanied Fer'gus on his 
march to Ulster. 

"In the relation of this famous invasion," says O'Halloran, "yet 
preserved, called ' Fainblio Cuailgne,'' or the spoils of the cattle at 
Cualgne, in the county of Louth, we are entertained Avith the order 
of the march of the troops. They were led on by Fergus : the 

* Castletown is situated about a mile west of Dundalk. The venerable 
castle, which was built in the twelfth century, crowns the summit of a green hill, 
from which a fine prospect of the bay of Dundalk and the mountains of Carling- 
ford and Slieveguilion, can be enjoyed. The castle is in excellent repair, and 
inhabited by a g-entleinan's family. Tlie Rath or Mound, which elevates its ver- 
dant crest on the castle-hill, is a majestic pile of earth. In the adjoining valley, 
there is an abbey in ruins, which is now used as a Cemetery, and several of the 
Dundalk families have tombs in it. This abbey inurns the dust of Prince Edward 
Bruce, of Scotland. 
19 



146 

Queen of Connaught, seated in an open chariot of splendid work- 
manship, with her asion, or crown of gold on her head, followed ; 
her maids of honour, and retinue were placed in four chariots which 
were so disposed at the sides and rear, that the dust and foam of the 
cavalry should not stain her royal robes." As soon as Connor 
heard of the advance of so formidable an expedition, he made every 
preparation to resist the invaders. Almost all the male population 
of Ulster, rose in arms to oppose the approaching foe. The king, 
well aware of the popularity of the champion CuchuUin, the chief 
knight of the red-brancli heroes, prevailed upon him to take the 
supreme command of his forces. Meanwhile, the wailing and 
broken hearted Deidre, remained confined in an apartment of the 
palace. When the king entered this chamber, shortly after the 
death of her beloved Naisi, he found her the living personification of 
inconsolable sorrow. She never raised up her head on his entrance, 
or spoke a single word to his questions. The stubborn and callous 
heart of the tyrant, was touched with a sense of relenting compassion, 
on witnessing the ravages which grief and distraction made in that 
countenance, which so lately bore the beautiful expression of an 
angelic face. 

Sickness and sadness reduced her elegant form, to that of a 
withered sibyl ; as the enchanting beauty, that lately inflamed so 
many hearts with the passion of love, was now sunk in wrinkles, 
like a broken statue mouldering in the dust and ashes of its own 
ruin. 

The next time Connor came to visit the melancholy Deidre, he 
brought Eogan, who assassinated Naisi, with him to behold the ill- 
fated woman in decay. Connor pointing his finger in a most insult- 
ing manner at her, said to Eogan', " I make you a present. General, 
of this false and scornful beauty, who has spurned the love of her 
sovereign, and afflicted her country with such calamitous misfortunes. 
Take her home and use her as you please." Eogan's servants 
then seized Deidre and forced her into his chariot. The king, in 
whose malignant heart, the fires of revenge and jealousy, were not 
yet quenched, seated himself in the chariot with Deidre and Eogan, 
and on the journey to the castle of Eogan, he was so cruel and un- 
manly, as to insult the unfortunate victim of his persecution, with 
expressions that weregrossly obscene, which so irritated and incensed 
her, that in order to escape such rude dishonour, and the disgrace of 
being the mistress of her husband's murderer, she precipitated her- 
self out of the chariot, and was instantly killed on falling on the 
pavement. 

Such was the fate of the hapless and lovely Deidre, whose peer- 
less beauty, and poetic genius, are extolled by our poets and histo- 
rians, in the loftiest hyperbole of eloquent panegyric. 

Before the grand army of Connaught commenced its march for 
Ulster, the Queen, mounted, like an Omphale, on a spirited war- 
horse, rode into the midst of the ranks and harangued them with a 
force of eloquence that could not fail of elating their courage and 
ambition. She painted the oppressive acts of Connor, and his im- 
placable enmity to Connaught, in the blackest colours of censure, and 



147 

took occasion to remind Litgha, tlie champion of Munster, that his 
father, Com-aoi, was killed by Ciichullin, the Captain of the Ulster 
knights, and expressed to Mac Nead, the General of her uncle's 
army, her fears that the ambitious Connor aspired to the throne of 
the Irish Monarchy. 

Her address was received with a burst of acclamation from the 
whole army. " Let your majesty lead us to the enemy's camp, that 
you may witness our valour," was the exclamation of every tongue.* 

The march of these legions from Roscommon to Ardee, in the 
county of Louth, presented all the pomp and pageanti"y of a trium- 
phal procession. The waving banners, the flowing plumage of 
golden helms, the gorgeous war chariots, drawn by stately steeds in 
spangled caparison, the mail and arms of officers and soldiers, and 
the beauty and elegance of the Queen and her ladies, all displayed 
a brilliant spectacle, as superb and imposing as the genius of Irish 
poetry could even imagine. 

This invading army advanced to Ulster in two divisions. The 
first division consisted of the Connaught troops, and the army of 
Leinster commanded by Olioll, tiie Connacian king, Fergus, Prince 
Carbery, and Mac Nead : the second was composed of the Clana 
Deaghadh, or Munster militia, under the command of Lugha the 
son of Conraoi, and other chivalric captains. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Battle ofMullacreio, in the county of Louth. — Death of Cuchullin. — of Meilhe, Queen 
of Connaught and her lover, Fergus. — Battle of Roscommon, and death of the 
King of Connaught. — Comhat and death of Ceat and Connal Cearnach, the rival 
champions. — Reign and death of Connor, King of Ulster, and of Eochaidh X. 
monarch of Ireland. — The reign and death of Eidersgeoill ; and the accession of 
JVuadhneacht to the throne, and his death, in the fifth year of the Christian era. 

The allied army encamped in Ardee, which was then called 
*' Baile na Riog,^^ or the town of the kings, which is still its Irish 
appellation. Here Fergus and the other chiefs wished to bring the 
Ultonians to battle, and, with this intent, they raised fortifications 
on the banks of the river Dee, a deep and rapid stream, that rises 
from a small lake in the county of Meath, five miles N. W. from 
Ardee, and after passing through that town and Dunleer, and 
receiving in its course, the waters of several tributary rivulets, falls 

* " It must be confessed, that this was a period of great miUtary renown in Irish 
history. For here were three principal tribes or order of knights at that time, who 
were not only accounted the greatest men of the age by their own provinces, but 
were so confessed by all the nations of the western world. We are told that their 
valour, their strength, and the largeness of their stature, were the wonder of the 
surrounding nations ; and that their exploits are not to be paralleled in history. 

It was one of the principal customs of the ancient Irish, to train up their youth 
to a mihtary life ; that they might either defend their country in time of distress, 
or carry the fame of their arms abroad." — Warner. 



148 

into the sea at Annagassin, in the county of Louth, at the distance 
of fifteen miles from its original source. The Rath, or Mound, 
which the Connacians then erected adjoining Ardee, is one of the 
most majestic, elevated and extensive piles of earth and stone in 
Ireland.* 

Connor, in the meantime, made a vigorous preparation to oppose 
the meditated attack of the approaching foe, and happily succeeded 
by his artifice and address, in appeasing the resentment of the hero, 
Cuchullin, and in persuading him to take the cliief command of the 
Ultonian army, then encamped at Dundalk. The very name of 
this chief of the Craoh-rogh, or the knights of the Red-wreath was 
a " tower of strength," to Connor's forces. Notwithstanding that 
Cuchullin could never forget nor forgive the baseness and cruelty 
of the king of Ulster to his relatives, he still was impelled to assume 
the command of the array, not only by the desire of glory, but by the 
craving of revenge ; for in a former war between the Connacians 
and Ultonians, Lugha, the champion of Munster, had killed his 
father. The Ultonian general had strict orders to remain on the 
defensive at Dundealgan, Dundalk, until he should be reinforced by 
a legion, under Connal Cearnach, that was daily expected to return 
from an expedition to Britain. The Connacians, aware of their 
numerical superiority, did every thing which artifice could suggest 
to force Cuchullin to a battle. They abandoned their entrenched 
camp at Ardee, and took up a position on an eminence at Muirthimme 
(Mullacrewt) four miles northward of their former camp, and in the 

* This mound was called " Castle Guard " by the English invaders, who built a 
citadel on its summit, A. D. 1253, to defend the Castle and town of Ardee from 
the assault of the " Irish enemy." In building the lofty mound, in whose bosom, 
it is supposed, there is a concavity, which once served either for a Druid's cave, or 
a regal tomb for the Princes of Louth, (the O'Carrolls) several ponderous piers and 
massy arches of chiselled limestone, have been raised one above the other, from 
the foundation to the summit. The castles or citadels erected by the English on 
the top of this mound, of which there is now scarcely a vestige, were, according to 
Camden, Ware and Grose, " two concentrate octagonal buildings, the one a strong 
tower, the other a kind of breastwork by way of battlements, which were garri- 
soned by British soldiers, to protect the strong castle of Ardee, a fine edifice which 
was built by Sir Roger Pepper, A. D. 1207." The mound was, until 1819, encom- 
passed with a double ditch and vallum, which, as a singularly mal apropos coinci- 
dence, was then levelled by the direction of Mr. Thomas Pepper, one of the remote 
descendants of Sir Roger, in order to make arable land of the site of the fosse. 
The circumference of the outward ditch v/as measured in IS] 9, by James S. Law, 
Esq. the talented author of the Irish Catholic, and the author of this history, by 
which we ascertained that it was 720 feet ; by the same admeasurement, we found 
that the circuit of the mound at the base was 567, and the conic elevation from 
thence to the summit 98 feet; the breadth of the vallum 30, and the heio-ht of the 
ditch 40. The circumference at the top of this romantic mound, on which, in our 
schoolboy days, we often plaj'ed the truant; and in those of the spring of our 
manhood and felicity, read and mused, and watched the setting sun descending 
from his sapphire throne to his ruby couch of clouds, is 142 feet. The views which 
open to the eye here, are as picturesque as beautiful. We hope it will not be 
considered aculpable piece of egotism for the authorof this history to mention, that 
Ardee is his birth place, as well as that of his paternal ancestors since the twelfth 
century. 

t Mullacrew is a large common, about five miles north of Ardee. From the 
days of St. Patrick to those of Henry VIII. the Prior of the abbey of Louth was 
the lord of its soil, who allowed the cattle of the tjcor to graze upon it; but on the 
suppression of the Irish monasteries, Henry made a grant of it to Sir Oliver 



149 

immediate vicinity of Calslean na CaJga, or Calga Castle, the patri- 
monial residence of the Ultonian general. This movement compelled 
Ciichullin to extend the right wing of his army to a lieiglit now called 
Ard Patrick, or the Hill of Patrick.* The two armies approximated 
so close, that it was impossible, in consequence, to avoid a battle. 
The Ultonian chief, however, notwithstanding his fiery valour and 
impetuous courage, wished to decline coming to action, until the 
arrival of his gallant colleague, Connal. But Fergus and Lugha 
caused trumpeters to approach Cuchullin's camp, in order to mock 
and deride him, and by this means provoke him to join battle with 
them. These insults had the desired effect ; for they irritated the 
brave hero of Ulster, who, impatient to avenge them, issued the 
signal for the attack on the Connacian camp. At that moment, 
when his military passion reached the acme of enthusiasm, some of 
his officers endeavoured to persuade him to postpone the action for 
a day, he indignantly retorted, " Wliat ! are we to fear their supe- 
rior numbers ? No, their defeat will be more glorious to the Ulster 
arms. I to shrink like a dastard, from the face of the vaunting foe, 
O ! never. Since my first arms were put into my hands, I have 
never declined a battle, nor shall I this. If I am to fall under the 
spear of Lugha, I shall fall like my heroic Sire, covered with a war- 
rior's glory, and with a spotless fame, worthy of being embalmed in 
the song of Erin's Bards." The onset was as dreadful as it was 
desperate : resentment and implacable rage burned in every breast, 
and rendered the conflict of the belligerents sanguinary and fierce 
beyond any former example on record. Cuchullin's war chariot, 
like the red thunderbolt felling the trees of the forest, flew "through 
an avenue studded by uplifted battle axes, and paved with dead 
bodies. To stop his fiery car of carnage, which rolled through the 
Connacians as irresistible as the headlong torrent of burning lava, 
when sweeping down the rocky declivities of ^tna, was an achieve- 
ment that none except Lugha had the daring courage to attempt. 
The Munster champion bravely resolved to cross his blood-flowing 

Plunkett, the first Baron of Louth, as well as of all the lands and possessions 
which then belonged to that rich priory. Lord Louth obtained a patent for hold- 
ing a nionthly fair here, for the sale of cattle, yarn, wool and coarse cloth. The 
quantity of wool exposed for sale at the great fair here, on the 17th of June, is 
immense. The tolls and customs are the property of the present Lord Louth, who 
farms them out at a large annual sum. It was at the fair of Mullacrew, in June, 
1826, that Richard Sheil, the Irish Cicero, harangued the Louth forty shilling 
freeholders, with a potency of eloquence which shivered from their minds the 
corroding chains of half a century of servility, and called forth from a torpor, con- 
gealed by the degrading dependence of sixty years, that glorious and regenerated 
spirit, which levelled tiie despotism of the Fosters and the Jocelyns in the dust, and 
gave a triumph to toleration and honest principle, in the election of the late 
Alexander Dawson, Esq. 

* " He (St. Patrick.) journeyed from Connaught to Slane, thence to Ardee, 
and thence to Lugh, now called Louth, a place famous for abbeys and seven 
churches. It derived this name from Ludha O'Carroll, prince of Conal Muir- 
ihimne, to whom St. Lupita, Patrick's companion, was sold as a slave. At Louth, 
St. Patrick intended to have established a Bisliop's See, but he was diverted from 
his purpose by St. Mochthe, the first prior. He retired to a place called Ard 
Patrick, a few miles east of the town of Louth, which is renowned in our history 
for being the site of the great Cuchullin's camp, where he built a small church." 
Book of Donegal. 



150 

path, and arrest his destructive career, or nobly die in the glorious 
attempt. Our ancient historians compared the collision of the war 
cars of Liigha and Cuchullin, to that of two huge rocks of flame, 
thrown in contact by a violent volcanic concussion. The combatants 
fought with a force and a fury, which astcjunded the contending 
armies. It was a murderous conflict of two enraged giants, each of 
whom was at once fired with the desire of vengeance and glory. 
After fighting from noon to dusk with unexampled bravery and un- 
shaken resolution, Lugha succeeded in piercing the heart of the 
Ultonian champion with his javelin. Thus fell the renowned cham- 
pion of Ulster, a hero whose exploits have been the theme of count- 
less songs and stories of Irish and Scottish writers.* 

Moore, in his epitome of the history of Ireland, in alluding to 
Cuchullin, observes : — " In the commencement of the christian era, 
the name dwelt upon, with most interest, by the chroniclers, is that 
of the young heio Cuchullin, whose death, in the full flush and 
glory of his career, took place, according to these authorities 
(Keating, and O'Flaherty) in the second year of Christ. "With the 
fame of this Irish warrior, modern readers have been made acquaint- 
ed by that splendid tissue of fiction and forgery imposed upon the 
world as the poems of Ossian, where, in one of those flights of ana- 
chronism, not infrequent in that work, he is confronted with the 
Bard and hero Oisin, who did not flourish till the middle of the third 
century. The exploits of Cuchidlin, Connal Cearnach, and othei* 
heroes of the red-branch, m the memorable seven years' war between 
Connaught and Ulster, are among those themes on which the old 
chroniclers and Bardic historians most delight to dwell. The cir- 
cumstance recorded of the young Cuchullin by these annalists, that 
when only seven years old, he was invested with knighthood, might 
have been regarded as one of the marvels of traditionary story ; had 
we not direct evidence, in a fact mentioned by Froissart, that so late 
as the time of that chronicler, the practice of knighting boys at the 
very same age, more especially those of royal parentage, was still 
retained in Ireland." 

The result of this battle broke for the present the spirit of the 
Ultonians, who were obliged to retreat in great disorder to Armagh. 
The victorious allied army sacked the castle of Calga, and carried 
off" immense spoils which they found in it, as well as in the town of 
Dundalk. After this victory, the king and queen of Connaught, 

* " The relation of the death of Cuchullin, at the battle of Muirthimme, about 
twenty-five years before the birth of Christ, in the Bookof Leinster, is full of ani- 
mation and spirit ; but while I cannot help admiring the richness of the language 
and the feublimity of the thought, I cannot help deprecating the folly, and censur- 
ing the credulity of Keating and O'Flaherty, who gravely tell us that it was by the 
power of Druidical enchantment Cuchullin was defeated, and not by the sword of 
Lugha." — Lynch. 

" In this battle we find war chariots were used, and numbers of them destroyed 
in .the sanguinary conflict, which is as memorable for carnage as it is for the valour 
displayed by the armies of Ulster and Connaught." — O'Halloran. 

" By the concurring testimony of all our annalists, Cuchullin was killed at this 
battle, twenty-five years before the incarnation, although Mr. M'Pherson, in de- 
fiance of chronological evidence, makes him contemporary with Ossian, who did 
not exist until the latter end of the third century." — Flanagan. 



151 

accompanied by Fergus, returned to their palace. Great festivities 
and rejoicings in celebration of their triumph, took place on their 
arrival at the Connacian court. At this juncture, the amours of the 
queen and prince Fergus, became so openly insmodest and indecently 
notorious, that all the courtiers loudly censured them as disgraceful 
at once to morality and royalty. Olioll, the old king, had long 
cherished acrimonious feelings of jealousy and indignation in his 
bosom, whose vindictive impulse, at the instigation of some of the 
nobles, he determined to follow, as soon as an opportunity should 
present itself. The hour of vengeance soon arrived. Meibhe and 
her paramour were in the habit of bathing in a secret part of the lake, 
where the banks were shaded with the thick foliage of willows and 
laburnums, which formed a sylan arbour, from which Flora herself 
would love to leap into the limpid water, with the gallant Zepliyrus. 
The king, with a trust-worthy nobleman, concealed himself in the 
labyrinths that adorned the banks of this lake, until Fergus plunged 
into the deep, when the provoked prince darted a javelin at him 
with such an accuracy of aim, and violence of force, that it transfixed 
Fergus' body. The brave but unfortunate prince, though mortally 
wounded, swam to the bank, and twisting the barbed steel out of his 
entrails, he flung it with all his might at the monarch, whom it 
missed, though it was so dexterously directed, that it killed the grey 
hound which stood at his feet. In a few moments afterwards 
Fergus died, and his body was honourably interred with all the 
funeral pomp and sepultural distinction due to his eminent rank as 
a prince of the blood royal of Ulster, and a chieftain knight of the 
illustrious order of the Red Branch. Connor, far from being intimi- 
dated or dispirited by the disasters that attended his army, on the 
contrary, was stimulated by reverses to make greater efforts to com- 
mand success. He employed himself in the most sedulous endeavours 
to recruit his army, and inflame the pride and fan the resentment of 
the Ultonians. While in pursuit of this object, the intelligence of 
the treacherous death of Fergus arrived, which served as an electric 
spark to set the vengeance of the people in a blaze. The apathy in 
which the public feeling was before congealed, now instantly, on the 
promulgation of the death of a prince, whose popularity was un- 
bounded, became thawed, and the blood of every heart boiled in the 
vehement effervescence of vindictive resentment. 

The whole population of Ulster, glowing with indignation took up 
arms, and flew en masse to the royal standard. At the moment that 
this intense enthusiasm pervaded every bosom, and united every 
opinion in a community of purpose, Connal Cearnach returned from 
an expedition in Britain, flushed with victory and laden with the 
spoils and trophies of conquest. When the victor heard of the fate 
of his attached friend and cousin, Fergus, he swore by his knighthood 
that he would offer a holocaust of Connacians to his manes. The 
very name of Connal was, hke that of Napoleon, " a host in itself," 
a tower of strength, whom the Ultonians regarded as invincible, and 
whose heroic exploits and renowned deeds of arms in Britain, Alba- 
nia and Gaul, acquired for him the reputation of being the most 
valiant champion in Europe. 



152 

Connor, who resolved to lead the invading army to Connaught in 
person, appointed Connal Cearoach his second in command. Under 
such leaders as these, an army so animated as the Ultonians then 
were, could not for a moment douht the success with wliich a victory 
over their enemies must eventually crown their arms. Inspired with 
these encouraging hopes, the troops commenced their march, in 
two divisions, for Dundalk, the head quarters of the Connacians; 
the first division was led on by the king, the second by Connal 
Cearnach, 

Wlien Ceat the commander of the Connacians, was apprised of 
the approach of such a numerous army, he broke up his encampment 
at Dundalk and Ardee, and precipitately retreated to Roscommon, 
where he expected to receive a reinforcement that would enable him 
to make a stand against the enemy. The Ultonians pursued him by 
forced marches. As Ceat had expected, the king of Connaught, 
Olioll More, formed a junction with him on his arrival at Roscommon, 
where they entrenched their united forces in a strong position, and 
resolved to await the attack of the Ultonians. They had scarcely 
formed their lines, when the king of Ulster drew up his army in order 
of battle before them, and despatched heralds to their camp to chal- 
lenge them to the conflict, which it was now impossible to evade. 
The signal was quickly given for the onset, and both armies rushed 
upon each other with an implacable fury, and a direful thirst of ven- 
geance, that cou'd only be satiated by death. The sanguinary con- 
test was maintained with a bravery and intrepidity that long trembled 
on the equilibrate of victory ; when, at length, Connal Cearnach, at 
the head of the knights of the Red Branch, charged the centre of the 
Connacian army, under their king, with irresistible valour, and suc- 
ceeded in breaking their line, and in killing Olioll and all his guards ; 
while Connor overthrew their left wing, which he drove in confusion 
from its strong position. Ceat, on this occasion, evinced his accus- 
tomed spirit and gallantry ; but finding that all his efforts could not 
make his panic struck troops rally, he felt himself, in consequence, 
constrained to make a rapid retreat to the borders of Lough Conn, 
in the county of Mayo, whither he was speedily pursued by the 
victorious Ultonians. 

The flight of the Connacians from Roscommon* to Lough Conn,t 
was in all the consternation and confusion of a discomfited army. 
But when they reached the foot of Nephin mountain, whose summit 
overlooks the lake, Ceat concentrated them in one of its defiles, 
where he justly calculated he could advantageously resist the attack 
of his pursuers. When Connor arrived on the banks of the lake, he 

* Roscommon is a very ancient town, the capital of the covmty of that name. 
It is situated in the bosom of a picturesque valley, at the distance of eighty miles 
N. W. from Dublin. Of its monastic ruins, feudal castles, and the beautiful land- 
scape scenery that environs it, we shall give a description in our topography of 
the county of Roscommon. 

t Lough Conn is a large lake in the county of Mayo, which is ten miles long 
and six broad. Its lucid waves are dotted with beautiful green islands, and border- 
ed with shrubby banks, decked by the hand of Flora. The lofty mountain of 
Nephin raises its gigantic crest above this lake, over which it casts the gloom of 
its shade. A fine species of trout, called gillanoo, considered the best in Ireland, 
abounds in Lough Conn. 



153 

was greatly disappointed to find the foe occupying a position guard- 
ed by a pass and secured by mountain acclivities, out of which he 
foresaw it would be impossible to dislodge them. The Ultonian 
king pitched his tents as near as possible to Ceat's lines, in the hope 
that he might by some means or other induce him to hazard another 
battle, from which he confidently anticipated decisive results, that 
would end the campaign, and reduce and humble Connaught to his 
subjection. Bands of the Ultonian archers and slingers were con- 
stantly assailing the Connacian position ; but Ceat, to render such 
a mode of assault harmless, soon raised a breastwork which eftect- 
ually protected his troops from this annoyance. Thus Ceat, with 
the consummate prudence of a wise and steady general, cautiously 
declined coming to an engagement with superior numbers, notwith- 
standing that Connor, wit.h a view of forcing him out, frequently and 
repeatedly, through his heralds, jeered, taunted, and even reproached 
him with being a coward. 

Ceat, conscious of his inability to compete with Connor, in fair 
battle, endeavoured to effect by stratagem, what he could not accom- 
plish by arms. During several days on which the hostile armies 
were in sight of each other, the principal ladies of Mayo generally 
ascended the acclivities of the mountain, in order to view the martial 
array of hostile legions, in the valley. The king of Ulster, who 
although then sixty years of age, evinced as warm a passion for 
amorous pleasures as ever, was in the constant habit of approaching 
quite near the station which these ladies occupied, in order to gaze 
upon their charms and converse with them. On one of these occa- 
sions, a youthful maiden of extraordinary beauty, allured the king 
to the mountain, where she promised to grant him the last favour. 
The monarch, panting with the hope of expected bliss, and not 
dreaming of the treachery which was planned by his enemy, gladly 
repaired to the spot of assignation, which he had no sooner reached, 
than to his confusion, but not terror, he found, not a blushing nymph, 
but his implacable enemy, Ceat, armed with a spear and cran tubal, 
or sling, to receive him. Connor, seeing the danger that environed 
him, and being unarmed, began to retreat from his dishonourable 
foe, but ere he went many paces, Ceat darted a ball at him from his 
sling, which struck and fractured his skull. Notwithstanding the 
severity of his wound, Connor succeeded in escaping to one of the 
outposts of his own troops. When the royal surgeon, Fignin Fea- 
sac, or the skilful, examined the fearful contusion made by the 
ball, on the king's head, he told his majesty that by the operation of 
the trepan alone, he could save his life. The king willingly sub- 
mitted to the painful operation, which the surgeon perfoi'med with 
such unexampled skill and care, that the wound was cured in a short 
time.* The surgeon then assured the king, that as the wound had in- 
jured his brain, he felt it his duty to warn his majesty never to get into 
a heat of passion, as under such an excitement of feeling, it would 

* " From this circumstance, the use of tlie trepan or trephine, was introduced, in 
the most early ages, in Irish surgery." — Warner. 

" This is only one testimony, among the many which the Irish annals furnish, 
of the professional eminence of the ancient physicians of Ireland." — Raymond. 

20 



154 

probably break out again, and produce consequences which might 
prove fatal to his life. When he was thus in a state of convalescence, 
he received with joy, overtures of peace from the monarch of Ireland, 
Eochaidh X., who signi6ed, through his ambassadors, his intention 
of withdrawing his assistance from the Connaught Confederacy. As 
soon as the wishes of the monarch were intimated to Connor, he 
sent an embassy to Tara, to solicit the hand of the Princess JEilhne 
in marriage. This solicitation was proraply complied with, and the 
Princess, without delay, accompanied Connor's ambassadors to her 
intended spouse's head quarters. Among these ambassadors, was 
Connor's poet laureate, who in mind and person united the attributes 
of Apollo to the prepossessing graces of Adonis. On the journey, 
the incense of adulation was never quenched in the censer of his 
poetic encomium ; the beauty and accomplishments of the young 
queen were the subjects of all his odes and songs. She read and 
listened to those effusions, with pleasure, and conceived at the same 
time, a tender attachment for the young bard. Shortly after the 
marriage of Connor with this lady had been celebrated, the poet and 
the Queen were surprised one evening, in a dark labyrinth, near the 
royal tent, in a very suspicious situation. This discovery was soon 
communicated to the jealous king, who became so enraged, when 
he heard the particulars, that he ordered the luckless bard to be 
drowned in Lake Cono, immediately adjacent to the house of Laog' 
haire Buadhaig, a powerful chief, and one of Connor's allies. The 
underlings of Connor quickly seized the devoted bard, and putting 
him in massy chains of iron, instead of crowning him with laurels 
and roses, dragged him to the margin of the lake, where they were 
about throwing him in headlong, when one of Laoghaire's shepherds 
came up to the executioners, and told them that a poet should not 
die so near his master's house. At this juncture, Laoghaire himself, 
heard the loud clamour of their debates, and suddenly starting up, 
rushed towards the expostulating parties, and, while generously res- 
cuing the Parnassian victim, he received a wound from a spear, 
which proved mortal ; but his last moments were cheered and illu- 
minated by the satisfaction, that arose in his mind, from his having 
snatched the votary of the Muses from a watery grave. Of the 
ultimate fate of the minstrel, our annals tell us nothing. 

About this period, queen Meibhe, whose grief for the death of her 
lover, Fergus, was deep and inconsolable, retired from the seat of 
war, to a country palace, in the County of Galway, situated on the 
borders of Loch Ribh, where she wished to indulge, during the re- 
mainder of her life, in tlie luxury of sorrow, without molestation or 
annoyance. It was her custom, after coming here, to bathe in the 
lake every morning ; which circumstance coming to the ears of one 
of Connor's illegitimate sons, Forbidhe, he formed the unmanly reso- 
lution of taking away her life. To effect this infamous purpose, he 
watched the Queen, and when she was in the water, he darted from 
his sling, a ball, with such power and direction, at the helpless 
woman, that she was instantly killed. 

M In this manner," observes Keating, " fell this heroic Queen, 
after she had enjoyed the government of Connaught ninety years." 



155 

Ceat, at this time, in single combat, having overthrown three of the 
bravest champions of Ulster, sent a herald to Connal Cearnach, to 
challenge him to a personal conflict, which was instantly accepted. 
For two days, we are told, the contest between these chivalrous 
heroes lasted, of which, both the armies of Connaught and Ulster 
were spectators. Although Ceat was slain first, he sold his life at 
the dear price of his rival's, for Connal lost so much blood in the 
fierce and desperate struggle, that he fell down exhausted, in a swoon 
upon the body of Ceat. The gigantic exploits, and heroic deeds, 
which our bards attribute to Connal Cearnach, might embellish the 
most extravagant of poetic tales; but they have too much of the air 
of romance and improbability to impose on the incredulity of stern 
history. We therefore omit as O'Halloran and McDermott have 
done, several of Dr. Keating's legendary relations of this champion 
of Ulster. Shortly after the death of the Queen of Connaught, the 
mediation of the monarch of Ireland proved so fortunate as to effect 
a peace between the provinces of Ulster and Connaught. As soon 
as the peace was definitely ratified, Connor returned to the palace 
of Eraania, loaded with spoils and elated with the glory vi'hich his 
exploits blew in the trumpet of martial fame over Europe. This 
prince, the son of Cais, who was lineally descended from the house 
of Ir, was as remarkable for great vices, as Ir was for great virtues. 
His flagitious and barbarous cruelties to the sons of Usnach, must 
ever fasten indelible infamy on his memory. To palliate, however, 
in some degree, ihe atrocity of his conduct, it must be admitted, in 
its extenuation, that he was valiant in battle, and wise in council; 
and his memorable protection of the bards who were banished by 
order of the Brehons, at this era, from the kingdoms of Munster, 
Leinster, and Meath, furnishes an honourable testimony of his muni- 
ficence, and of his love of literature and the arts.* 

* " Connor, King of Ulster, opened an asylum at his palace in Emania, for the 
banished minstrels." — Book or the four Masters. 

" In the reign of Connor, King of Ulster, the whole nation raised objections and 
clamours, against the insolence of the bards, who fiercely abused every one that 
incurred their displeasure ; consequently, their charter was cancelled in Tara, and 
Ferns, and more than 1000 poets, took refuge at the palace of Ulster." — Bishop 
Hutchinson's Vind. 

" Connor was a great protector of the arts and sciences, to him we are in a great 
measure indebted, for what records and history we possess, of these remote days. 
For the pride and power of the bards, and of the literati, had at this time risen to 
so high a pitch of arrogance and impertinence, that scarce any thing they demanded 
durst be refused to them. They grossly abused their privileges, and trampled the 
immunities of their compeers under their feet, and, with unsparing severity, 
libelled and satirized every person who was so unfortunate as to fall under their 
resentment, so that their aggressions became insupportable, and the monarch of 
Ireland, in consequence, felt himself constrained to procure a decree from the 
national estates, for their expulsion." — Strictures on Irish Bardic History. 

" Connor, who entertained the proscribed poets, to the amount of one thousand, 
in a remonstrance which he transmitted to the cabinet of Tara, clearly demonstrated 
that the total abolition of the literary orders, would be, to the last degree, detrin 
mental to the state ; but that a proper restraint of censorship, laid on them, would 
be a most useful and necessary step." — O'Halloran. 

" It was through the interposition of Connor Mac Nessa, King of Ulster, that 
the order of the bards was put under legal restriction, as new law-tables were then 
published, and every poet, in some degree, made a judge of what he owed to the 
public, as a fellow subject, and to himself as an individual." — O'Connor. 

" The father of Connor, M'as Fachtna Fatkaach, the son of Caes, son of Rugh- 



156 

" From what has been said of the high station and dignities 
assigned to their bards and antiquarians, it will have been seen that 
in the political system of the ancient Irish, the literary or Bardic 
order, which appears to have been distinct from the Druidical, 
formed one of the most active and powerful springs. Supported by 
lands set aside for their use, and surrounded by privileges and im- 
munities which even in the midst of civil commotion, rendered their 
persons and property sacred, they were looked up to not only as 
guardians of their country's history and literature, but as interpre- 
ters and dispensers of its laws. Thus endowed and privileged, 
this class of the community came at length to possess such inordi- 
nate power, and by a natural consequence, so much to abuse it, that 
a popular reaction against their encroachments was the result, and 
their whole order was about to be expelled from the kingdom. In 
this crisis of their fate, the Conquovar, or Connor, King of Ulster, 
espoused the cause of the Bards, and, protesting strongly against 
the policy of suppressing them altogether, succeeded in effecting 
such reformation, in the constitution of their order, more especially 
in all that related to their judicial proceedings, as at length restored 
them to public favour. The better to regulate their decisions for the 
future, he caused a digest of the ancient laws to be formed, under 
the auspices of Forchern, and two other distinguished poets ; and 
the code thus compiled, was called by their admiring contempora- 
ries. Breathe Neimidh, or celestial judgments. In having Poets 
thus for their law givers, the Irish but followed the example of most 
of the ancient nations ; among whom, in the infancy of legislation, 
the laws were promulgated always in verse, and often publicly sung; 
and even so late as the time of Strabo, the chief Magistrate of the 
people of Mazaca, in Cappadocia, (who was to them what juris- 
consults were to the Romans) bore the title, as we are informed by 
Strabo, of the Law-Giver." — Moore. 

His ambition was daring, insatiable, and inordinate, and his 
passions were as warm as they were often violent and licentious, 
for he was indifferent and regardless whether their gratification 
transgressed the rules of justice, or subverted the barriers of morali- 

ruidhe, a descendant from the royal line of Ir, from whom Ireland derives its name. 
His mother was Nessa, the daughter of Eochaidh IX. monarch of Ireland, and step 
sister to. Meibhe Cruachna, Queen of Connaught. Though this famous Queen 
was his aunt, he yet carried on a long and bloody war with her, and in her old 
age, one of his sons, swayed by the desire of revenge, killed her while she was 
bathing in a lake, in Connaught. 

One of the daughters of King Connor was married to Carhrc JViadfar, King of 
Leinster, who, to obtain her, made over part of his own dominions to her father ; 
so that in after ages, the O'Neils, as kings of Ulster, claimed a great part of 
Leinster, particularly the whole County of Louth, and all the districts of Meath, 
east of Tara.'' — Maurice Regan's " Royal Irish Genealogy." 

" A poet of great antiquity, in narrating the cession of territory made by the 
king of Leinster to Connor, in consequence of obtaining his beautiful daughter, 
Feidhlin, in marriage, observes — 

" Connor enlarged the bounds of his command ; — 

And as a dowry for his daughter's beauty. 

Obtained most fruitful tracts of land, from Leinster, 

And joined them to his own dominions." — Bryan O'Connor. 



157 

ty. Dr. Keating's relation of his death, is so singularly improbable, 
that we will transcribe it here. "The king strictly observed the 
directions of the surgeon ; for the violence of heat or passion would 
force the wound open, and by that means bring his life into the 
utmost danger ; and in this state, Connor continued for seven years, 
to the great joy of his subjects, till the Friday on which our blessed 
Saviour was crucified ; and then the king being surprised at the 
dreadful and supernatural eclipse of the sun, and shocked at the 
horrid darkness and convulsion of nature, that followed the death 
of the Son of God, consulted with the Arch-Druid, to ascertain the 
occasion and design of that wonderful event. The Pagan prophet 
replied that the cause of those strange and violent alterations arose 
from a barbarous murder, that day committed by the wicked Jews, 
upon a most innocent and divine person, Jesus Christ, the son of the 
everlasting God. The king resented that inhuman act with such a 
gust of passion, that he cried out "if he were a spectator of the 
vile sacrifice, he would take ample vengeance on the murderous per- 
secutors of a deified Messiah, who came on this earth as the vice- 
gerent of heaven." He immediately drew his sword, and in his 
wrath, went to an adjacent grove, and, in the fury of his rage, began 
to cut down the trees, protesting that if he, with his knights of the 
red branch, were in the country of the Jews, where the Son of God 
was executed, he would be revenged upon the murderers, whom he 
would chop to pieces, as he did the boughs of the trees, and by this 
violence and heat of his anger, his blood and spirits were disordered 
and fermented, which had the effect of bursting open his wound, 
through which his brains gushed, so that he died upon the spot." 

Now this is certainly the invention of mere fiction, as Connor was 
dead, according to O'Flaherty, long before the birth of Christ; but 
all our annalists agree in asserting that there was a famous Druid 
and prophet, called Bacrach, who flourished in Leinster, at this 
epoch who predicted the birth and crucifixion of the Redeemer of 
mankind. "We are not to wonder," says Dr. Molloy, "that the 
God of the universe should vouchsafe to enlighten the mind of a 
Pagan with the light of inspiration, and lay open before him that 
volume of futurity, in which he might read of the events which were 
to occur in an approaching age. The truth and probability of this 
assumption are borne out in fuller strength of evidence and illustra- 
tion, by the testimony which history adduces of the prediction of the 
Heathen prophetesses, the sybils, as well as of the augury which 
enabled other blind and idolatrous soothsayers, ignorant of the 
existence of the true God, to foretel the birth and passion of our 
Saviour." 

Some of our historians, Keating and O'Flaherty, relate what we 
hope for the sake of humanity, is unfounded, that Connor, in addi- 
tion to his other atrocious crimes, was guilty of the diabolical and 
execrable sin of incest. Eochaidh X. the monarch whose long reign 
of forty years was distinguished for mildness, justice and prudence, 
died at Tara, A. M. 3965, shortly after the dissolution of Connor, 
much lamented by the nation. In our Essay on Irish Sepulture, 
and raonuQients, which we will give in the next chapter, we shall 



158 

relate that it was this monarch of Ireland, Eocliaidh AdhnocM* 
who caused a law to be passed for regulating the obsequies and 
sepulture of the Irish, in consequence of which our annalists have 
given him the distinctive appellation of Adhnoclit, an Irish epithet, 
that signifies burial. 

There are critics, we are aware, who might, with a great show of 
reason, object to the minuteness with which, in the course of this 
history, we have explained and illustrated facts and circumstances, 
that to a superficial reader, may appear divested of material impor- 
tance ; but we, in our arrangement of incidents, and narration of 
facts, have endeavoured to profit by the advice which the philosophic 
historian, Hume, gives in one of his essays. " In reading history," 
says he, " trivial incidents, which show the manners of the age, are 
often more instructive, as well as entertaining, than the great transac- 
tions of wars, and negotiations, which are nearly similar in all 
periods, and in all countries of the world." 

Eochaidh X. dying without male issue, the national estates elected, 
at Tara, Prince Eidersgeoill, the son of Eogan, king of Munster, 
monarch of Ireland, A. M. 3965. This prince was of the dynasty 
of Heremon, and his martial fame, and great literary attainments, 
contributed their aids to gain for him an election, which was warmly 
contested. He, before his accession to the throne, eminently signal- 
ized himself in the wars of the Connacians, with the Ultonians, 
against whom he cherished the most inveterate resentment, in con- 
sequence of their having expelled his ancestors from their throne, 
to make room for the Irian princes. He married the grand daughter 
(EfFa) of his predecessor, Eochaidh, and by this princess, he became 
the father of Connaire, the Great, Avho makes such a shining figure 
in the Irish annals. Eidersgeoill was not long suffered to enjoy the 
regal power, for in the sixth year of his reign, he lost life and crown 
in a battle fought with his successor, Nuadh Neacht, A. M. 3971. 
NuADH was crowned on the stone of destiny, at Tara ; but his reign 
scarcely attained its seventh year, Avhen Connaire, the son of the 
late monarch, Eidersgeoill, wrested the sceptre from his grasp, and 
extinguished the lamp of his life, at the battle of Cliach, in Meath, 
A. C. 5. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



The ancient sepulture of the Irish. — The reign of Connaire the Great — His death. — 
Accession of Lughaidh to the throne. — The reigns of Connor and Criomthan. 

The ancient mode of interment among the Irish, bore a strong 
resemblance to that of the Greeks, which furnishes another strong 

* " It will be perceived, by all those acquainted with the Irish idiom, that our 
orthography of Irish words, differ materially from thatof O'Halloran; but we spell 
them according to the authority of O'Reilly's classical and standard dictionary of 
the Irish language. 



159 

corroborating fact to sustain the authenticity of our true eastern 
origin. Embalming was never practised among our Pagan ances- 
tors ; for when a chieftain or warrior died, naturally, or in battle, 
the funeral pile was reared on a lofty eminence, in which the body 
was consumed ; the ashes were carefully preserved, and placed in a 
golden, marble, or brazen urn,* which was interred in a superb tomb, 
over which the cairn, cromlech, or tumulus was reared, to immor- 
talize the spot consecrated to the sepulture of the deceased. 

About two centuries before the introduction of Christianity into the 
Island, the monarch Eochaidh, as related in our last chapter, who is 
distinguished in Irish history by the appellation of the regulator of 
the grave, promulgated a law of burial. " He ordained," says 
O'Halloran, " that the bead should be placed to the west, the feet to 
the east, and a mound of earth, or mural tomb, placed over the 
whole." At this period, the Knights of the Red Branch were im- 
mured in a deep grave, whose bottom was paved with white marble ; 
the sides were lined with brick and durable cement, and the surface 
was covered with a large marble flag, raised on low pillars, resem- 
bling the table of a Druidical altar : the margins of this flag were 
ornamented with sculptured figures, emblematic of the chivalrous 
actions of the deceased ; while the inscription recorded, in heroic 
verse, his martial valour, exploits, and moral virtues. The elegance 
of the bas-reliefs, and cut letters, of some of these tombs which have 
been discovered in the royal cemetries of Cong,t in the county of 
Mayo — of Lismore4 in the county of Waterford — of Bangor, in the 
county of Down, of Cruaclian, in Roscommon, of Clonmacnois, in 

^ " It appears that the first and most ancient manner of burying their dead, was 
that of burning on the funeral pile. They also, like the Hebrews, piled great 
heaps of stones over the spot where the urn, containing the ashes of the dead, was 
deposited. Several golden urns have been found under these cairns, as they are 
called." — Warner. 

t " Cong Abbey was founded by St. Fechan in the sixth century, on the ruins 
of the sepulchral fane that entombed the dust of several of the Pagan kings of 
Connaught. Roderick O'Connor, the last monarch of Ireland, was interred here, 
but no visible monument proclaims, in marble eloquence, the eulogium of his 
virtues, or points out his unknown grave. Lady Morgan, in her deservedly popu- 
lar novel of 0'DoNNEL,says, " that the monaster}"^ of Cong, on the borders of Mayo 
and Gal way, is a model of the finest ecclesiastical architecture in Ireland." Dr. 
Pococke, whose celebrated travels are known to every intelligent reader, observed 
in relation to this village of monastic ruins, and the monumental relics of the 
" wrecks of time," — " There is a spot in Ireland, that comprises within its verge, 
more of the loftier features of picturesque beauty, than any one scenic combina- 
tion I saw in the course of my oriental travels." 

I LisMORE furnishes many relics of former glory for the rei3ection of the anti- 
quary, who wishes to muse amid mouldering porticoes, ruined castles, and crumb- 
ling sepulchres. Here Caius Marius would find piles of national ruins as worthy 
of his philosophic reflections, as any he ever saw among the fallen fanes, and 
dilapidated monuments of Carthage. The town, which is a flourishing one, is 
agreeably situated on the river Blackwater, in the county of Waterford, at the dis- 
tance of 138 miles from Dublin. Lismore was as noted for its druidical temples, 
and royal tombs, in the Pagan ages, as it has been in the early ages of Christiani- 
ty, for its abbeys, castles, colleges, and royal sepulchres. In the seventh century, 
St. Carthagh erected a noble abbey and university here. In the middle ages, the 
fame of the college of Lismore attracted students from Greece, Rome, France, 
Germany, and England. The site of this town before the Christian era, was called 
in^Irish, from the great number of its tombs, Maig sgiath or the chosen shade of 
the dead. In addition to its monastic and collegiate ruins, the traveller will also 



160 

King's County, of Ardfert, in Kerry, and of Kilgowan, in Kildare, 
deraonstrates the perfection to which sculpture was carried by 
our progenitors, in these dark days of barbarism, when the 
chisel and the pencil were equally unknown to the naked Britons. 
The corpse of the knight was laid in the " narrow house" with 
his armour on, and his sword, spear, and target were placed by his 
side.* The name of the knight or warrior interred, was inscribed 
on the tablet in the hieroglyphic characters used by the druids, 
called the Ogham epitaph. Many of these sepulchral tablets, bear- 
ing the Druidical inscription, have been dug up, some years ago, in 
the county of Sligo. 

Lady Morgan, our illustrious countrywoman, when on a visit at 
the house of that truly patriotic gentleman, Mr. O'Hara, of Nymph- 
field, in the county of Sligo, saw, in 1809, and admired an urn which 
was dug up in the glen of Knockna-righ, or the King's Hill, a part 
of his domain, where there is an immense pile of huge stones, called 
the Giant's Grave, raised in a curious manner on the tops of others, 
which stand perpendicularly, like the pillars of Stonehenge, in Eng- 
land, and serves as the sepulchral monument of Milesian warriors. 
" The urn," says her ladyship, " is composed of the finest clny, 

perceive the remains of its seven churches. In the tenth century, the royal author 
of the Psalter of Cashel, King Cormac Mac Cuillenan, caused a superb mauso- 
leum, finished in all the elegance of architectural and sculptural taste, to be erected 
here for the receptacle of his remains, after his dissolution ; but of this monument 
there is not now even a vestige to be seen. Lismore, prior to the invasion of the 
English, was part of the principality of the O'Phealans, princes of the Deisies. 
The castle of Lismore was built by King John, A. D. 1185. It is boldly situated 
on the verge of a rocky hill, raising its gray turrets perpendicularly, to a consider- 
able elevation above the river Blackwater. The avenue approaching its arched 
portal, is studded on either side by rows of majestic oaks, which were, it is 
said, planted by Sir Walter Raleigh, who purchased the manor of Lismore from 
Myler Magrath, then archbishop of Cashel, as well as prelate of this see. In 1189, 
the Irish, under M'Carthy More, king of Desmond, demolished this castle, and 
made captives of its English garrison. It was rebuilt in the reign of Henry VII. 
In a future chapter of this history we shall narrate the different sieges it sustained 
from the reign of Henry, to that of James II. This castle is famous for being the 
birth place of the renowned philosopher, Robert Boyle; whose father, the Earl of 
Cork, purchased it from the heirs of Sir Walter Raleigh, A. D. 1621. Lismore 
Castle now belongs to that liberal and enlightened nobleman, the Duke of Devon- 
shire, whose father had it elegantly repaired and ornamented. Over the gateway 
leading to the entrance of the castle, are the arms of the Earl of Cork, in basso 
relievo ; and opposite to this entrance is a fine Doric portico of marble, which was 
designed by Sir Inigo Jones for the Earl of Cork, in 1644. The noble bridge 
which the late Duke of Devonshire, at his own expense, built over the Blackwater, 
is an imposing structure ; the span of the principal arch reaching the extremity of 
112 feet. The see of Lismore was united to that of Waterford in 1363, seven 
hundred and thirt}' years after its foundation. The Duke of Devonshire is a muni- 
ficent pc^tron to this town, under whose encouraging auspices it has grown into 
consequence and respectability. 

" " Under a cairn at Lismore, some workmen dug up in 1791, a brazen sword, 
quite free from rust, formed exactly like that which the venerable Vallancey des- 
cribes as resembling the Carthaginian swords." — Hist, of Waterford. 

" Part of a golden tiara was found about sixteen years ago, in the drained bed of 
Loucrhadian, near Pointzpass, in the county of Armagh, and is yet in the possession 
of William Fivey, Esq." — vide Sturat's Armagh. 

" A brass hatchet, which the ancient Irish called Tuach-snouglit, and a small 
spear, or pike, the well known Laincach of the Milesian soldiers, were found in 
the old abbey of Innis Murray, in the county of Sligo." — Lady Morgan. 



161 

highly polished, elegantly formed, and exquisitely carved : it was 
nearly filled with ashes, and a kind of bituminous stuff, over which 
was placed a beautiful lozenge, of thin variegated marble, once, 
perhaps, marked with an inscription, now entirely defaced. The 
urn, most probably, contained the ashes of some Milesian prince, or 
sacred Druid, to whom, in days of Paganism, this privilege alone 
was accorded ; for when the body of the warrior was consigned to 
the earth, his entire arms and coat of mail were buried with him : 
thus the ancient Irish, like the ancient Etruscans, used both modes 
of inhumation at the same time." 

After the hero, Cuchullin, was mortally wounded, at the famous 
battle of Muirthinunc, (now Mullacrew, in tlie county of Louth,) 
fought a century before the incarnation, he commanded his charioteer 
to drive quickly to Dnndalgan, (Dundalk :) " there," said the dying 
champion, " let me die ; and let the carraig, cairn, and the two 
tall stones,* cover the place of my rest, and proclaim to the brave 
of other days, that he who sleeps below was valiant among the 
champions of Erin. Lay my shield on my breast, my two spears 
by my left side, and my sword and bow by my right : as to my fame, 
the bards of my country will consecrate it in song, and my deeds shall 
be rolled down to posterity on the tide o{ Banhhci's heroic story."t 

There is scarcely a parish in Ireland without its gianfs grave, its 
cairn, its cromlech, and sepulchral tumuli. The Pagan Irish sup- 
posed that the spirits of their departed heroes, and Druidical sages, 
resided in these tombs ; so that they were uniformly regarded with 
reverential respect by the living. On the introduction of Christianity, 
the missionaries observing the superstitious attachment of the people, 
to these monuments, preached the sublime truths of the gospel in the 
fanes of the Druids, and raised their churches over the graves of 
royal heroes, gallant knights, and celebrated Druids, which had the 
effect of propitiating the prejudices of the people, and enlisting their 
passions under the banner of the cross. The first Christian edifices, 
erected in Ireland, were generally denominated, in consequence, Cil, 
or Coil, in the old Irish, from the Scythian Kille, or, rest of the dead. 
Hence every place of cemetery, where the gospel was first preached 
in Ireland, received the name of Kille, and consequently explains 
the reason why the denomination of so many towns in the kingdom 
begins with this appellation, as Kilkenny, Killarney, Killaloe, Ril- 
rush, and Kilgowan. The large pillar stone of Rilgowan, which is 
standing on an elevated hill, near Kilcullin, in the county of Kildare, 
is a singular sepulchral monument. At a distance it looks like the 
statue of Fingal, in the attitude of planning an attack, with his Irish 
militia, on the Roman legions. It is ten feet above the ground, and 
four feet thick, sloping rather to a recumbent position ; and on its 
south side is rudely engraven a cross, in cretix. 

* It was from the "tioo tall monumental stones," that were always raised over 
the tombs of our ancient chieftains, that Macpherson derived the idea of deeorat- 
ino- the graves of his Alhardans with " tioo grey stones" which he stole out of the 
quarries of the Irish bards. 

t Banbha was a name given to Ireland, in honour of one of the Belgian queens. 
Cuchullin's dying words we have translated from M'Cleary's Annals of Donegal. 

21 



162 

The funeral processions of the old Irish were conducted with great 
pomp, order, and solemnity. The body was borne on a grand 
funeral car, richly ornamented with plumes, blazoned palls, and bril- 
hant escutcheons, as well as armorial banners of heraldic splendour 
storied with the fame and actions of the deceased. This car was 
preceded by the Druids, robed in their sacerdotal vestments, and 
singing hymns ; and followed by the relatives of both sexes, arrayed 
in deep mourning ; after tliera came the bards, headed by the Ard- 
Jile-laibreil, or high laureate. When the procession reached the 
tomb, the coffin was lowered into the vault, and as soon as the Druids 
performed all the religious ceremonies prescribed by their ritual, the 
chief genealogical antiquarian, in a narrative poem, recited aloud 
the pedigree of the family up to Milesias : then the laureate, in a 
species of elegiac poetry, called clointe, or the lamentation, pronounc- 
ed a glowing and enthusiastic encomium on the chivalry, magna- 
nimity, hospitality, and martial exploits of his dead patron ; this was 
succeeded by a plaintive chorus, breathed from the mournful melody 
of a hundred harps, attuned to the funeral song, which was succeed- 
ed by a wailing howl, whose tide of melancholy music was swollen 
to an ebb of the most touching and afflicting pathos. The easting 
of a stone, by every person in the assembled concourse, on the grave, 
finished the last sad honours of the obsequies ; this pious act con- 
cluded the solemnity — pronounced the apotheosis, and raised the 
monument. 

"Among all the arts," says the learned Charles O'Connor, " which 
wind up the human passions, the legislators of this island found none 
more effectual than the united powers of verse and song. The 
mournful elegies sang at funerals by the bards, made such an im- 
pression on the hearers, as produced the effects intended ; a rever- 
ence and imitation of virtue, or of what, in those ages of heathenism, 
was deemed virtue. This inveterate custom entered so deeply into 
the manners of the nation, as to outlive, in some degree, all revo- 
lutions." 

The practice of employing weeping rhymesters, at the funerals of 
the middle classes of the Irish, in some counties, is still prevalent. 
These sorrowing women, like the mourning Hebrew females men- 
tioned by Jeremiah, follow tlie hearse, and in a kind of extempora- 
neous melancholy cry, in which they are accompanied by the 
plaintive chorus of several other women, who have sweet Irish 
voices, extol the goodness and nobleness, and lament the dissolution 
of the deceased, in affecting strains of pathetic wailing.* 

* " The female chorus is continued to this day, at the funerals of farmers of the 
Milesian stock : the custom also exists in the Highlands of Scotland, but so 
remotely from the original institutions, so debased by extemporaneous composi- 
tion, and so disagreeable from unequal tone, that no passion is excited." — Dissert, 
on Irish History. 

" A faint trait of Druidical superstition still lingers among the Irish peasantry. 
If a murder is committed in the open air, it is considered indispensable, in every 
pious person, who passes by, to throw a stone on the spot where the victim died, 
which, from a strict adhesion to this custom, presents a considerable pyramid of 
stones. These monuments are beautifully and expressively called in Iris!), Cloct- 
breegh, or the stony heap of sorrow." — Stranger in Ireland. 



163 

Not only the arms, but also the rings and amulets of the ancient 
Irish warriors were immured in the grave ; for scarcely a year 
elapses that one of these talismanic amulets are not found. The Irish, 
no doubt, derived their superstitious belief in the power and efficacy 
of charms, from their eastern ancestors; as we learn from history, 
that the Egyptians, Jews, Arabians, and Persians, were much given 
to this species of supernatural protection. AM the Roman ladies 
wore amulets of various figures, forms, and materials, according to 
the rank and state which they occupied in society. 

" The Irish chieftains," says Lady Morgan, in that truly elegant 
and national work, " Patriotic Sketches,'''' " disposed by the ardour 
of their imagination to every illusion of Druidical superstition, held 
the influential potency of charms in religious estimation. The 
warrior, ou knight, never entered the field of battle without his ring 
or amulet ; and on the fair bosoms of the noblest dames, sparkled 
the consecrated talisman." A large amulet of gold, elegantly 
chased, and beaded with pearls, was found by the labourers of Mr. 
Faulkner, in 1803, while digging a trench in his domain, at Castle- 
town, in the county of Carlow. Each side of this antique exhibited 
a legendary motto, finely engraved, in Gothic letters of the tenth 
century. 

In a dissertation on the ancient architecture of the Irish we will 
give a description of the cromlech, and other sepulchral monuments. 

The victor Connaire, surnamed by our annalists the Great, mount- 
ed the throne. The military fame which he won by his valour in 
many exploits, attracted general popularity and admiration. The 
only memorable circumstance of his reign, however, on record, is 
one ; and to it he is probably indebted for the appellation of the 
Great, he caused a law to be enacted which invested the Irish bards 
with their primeval prerogatives. No sooner had this ordinance been 
promulgated, than the concert of a thousand harps swelled the tide 
of bardic adulation to a boundless ocean of eulogium ; while the pens 
of poets, and the tongues of orators, delighted to praise and extol 
a prince who delivered the " sons of song" from the penal restraints 
which his predecessors had, as they conceived, unwarrantably im- 
posed upon them. In the book of reigns, he is distinguished by the 
epithet of Connaire " na sgiath" or of the Golden Shield, as, before 
his accession to the throne, he always bore a shield of this precious 
metal in battle. 

In the first year of his reign, he invaded Munster, which he 
cruelly devastated with fire and sword, in revenge for the death of 
his father by Nuadh Neacht, a prince of that province, (as related in 
our last chapter.) After he had thus reduced the people of Munster 
to subjection, he imposed heavy contributions upon them, and com- 
pelled their princes to bind themselves by a special covenant to pay 
him and his successors the following annual tribute, viz. three hun- 
dred golden-hafted swords, three hundred cows, three hundred purple 
cloaks, three hundred war horses, three hundred wolf-dogs,* and 

* The breed of the famous Irish wolf-dog is now nearly extinct in Ireland. A 
few years ago, the late Hamilton Rowan, Esq. possessed two beautiful dogs of the 
fleet race of Ossian's Bran. These Mr. Rowan himself assured us, nine years ago, 



164 

three huiidred vessels of ale. He then, elated with success and 
ambition, turned his arms against Ulster, which he soon subjected 
to his despotic dominion ; but during his absence in that province, 
the chieftains of Munster, made an incursion into Meath, and burned 
his palace at Kells. Provoked by this daring act of retaliation, the 
monarch again inflicted a severe chastisement on the people of 
Munster. The bards, no doubt for the reason already mentioned, 
extol Connaire for his clemency, justice, and valour, and represent 
the nation basking during his reign in the sunshine of prosperity. 

Some of our historians relate that he invaded Britain, from av hence 
as they assert, he carried home such trophies and spoils, that the 
annalists bestowed on him the distinctive nomenclature of " CJionaire 
na creich is na Lann,'''' or Connaire of the tributes and swords. Dr. 
O'Halloran, in noticing this allegation, says, "It is highly probable, 
that a warlike and ambitious prince like Connaire could not behold 
with indifference the progress of the Roman arms in Britain ; and 
with the means he possessed, that he could have remained an idle 
spectator of the conquests of an enemy of Avhom he was always very 
jealous." 

Connaire enjoyed a prosperous reign of forty years ; but at the 
expiration of that period, an army of malecontents, whom the 
monarch had previously exiled to Wales, invaded the kingdom, under 
the command of Haingteil, who had married, during his exile, a 
British princess, and succeeded in defeating this supreme prince, 
and depriving him of life, in the year of Christianity, 10.* O'Fla- 

•when we had the pleasure of an interview with him, were the last remains of the 
Milesian wolf-dogs, of whose strength and sagacity we will have to relate so much 
in our future history* 

Cambrensis, in his topography of Ireland, says, " They have a species of dogs 
here remarkable for great strength, fine shape, and large size." We are told by 
Harris and Vallancey, that James I. A. D. 1615, so highly prized the Irish wolf- 
dogs, that he esteemed them a present worthy of the acceptance of monarchs, and 
that he sent a pair of them, by his ambassador. Sir Thomas Rowe, to the Great 
Mogul. " There is," says an ancient writer, " extant in the rolls office of Ireland, 
a privy seal from king Henry VIII. obtained at the suit of the Duke of Alberkyrke, 
of Spain, (who was of the privy council of that monarch,) for the delivery of four 
Irish wolf-dogs to the Spanish Marquis Dessaraya, which shows the high value 
put by foreigners on such presents." 

" We believe that there is not now a wolf-dog of the genuine breed in Ireland. 
Lord Sligo had two wolf-dogs, in 1783, at his seat at West Port, the last of their 
race." — Vide Stuart's Jlrmagh. 

In the notes appended to Lady Morgan's popular novel " O'Donnel," the in- 
quisitive reader will find further particulars of the descendants of " breeze-f6oted 
Bran." 

We find in an old Irish manuscript in our possession a spirited description of 
Fingal's famous wolf-dog, of which the following is a literal translation : — " Swifter 
than the wintry tempest that rolls the waves of the Shannon over the adjacent 
meadows, was Bran in the chace of the wolf and the mouse-deer. He ascended 
the loftiest mountain like a hawk in pursuit of prey. He was the first in the chace, 
as his master, Finn, was in the strife of spears." This famous animal, which was 
so highly valued by Erin's stormy hero of battles, had yellow legs, black sides, 
white belly, speckled back and loins, and small ears of crimson red. 

* " I find myself obliged to depart in this instance from O'Flaherty's chronology 
which I have adopted hitherto all along, as being tlie most accurate. The chrono- 
logy of Archbishop Usher, which places the death of Connaire in the tenth year of 
the Christian era, is that which is laid down by learned writers as correct.'" — 
Warner. 



165 

herty, on the authority of the book of reigns, conjectures that this 
king's reign lasted seventy years ; but we think, with Keating, and 
Lucius O'Kennedy, in his history of the house of Stuart, that he fell 
within the period we have stated. The conqueror Haingteil, how- 
ever, did not like other victors, reap the harvest of triumph ; for the 
national estates refused their sanction of his pretensions to the throne. 
Indeed, the popularity in which Connaire was held by the whole 
nation, raised a barrier of insurmountable prejudice against the 
invader. 

An interregnum of five years, an instance without precedent in 
our annals, was the consequence. At length, however, the estates, 
in the convention of Tara, elected Lughaidh lliahhdearg monarch 
of Ireland. This prince was the son o£ Fineamhnas, of the house of 
Heremon. Shortly after his elevation to the throne, he married 
Dearhoi'guill, the fair daughter of the king of Denmark. " He 
received," writes Keating, " the title of Lughaidh Riabhdearg, on 
account of two red circles, one of which encompassed his neck, the 
other surrounded his body." This monarch was so passionately 
fond of his wife, that on her death his affliction became so insupport- 
able, that he put an end to his existence by the commission of suicide. 
In a lake in Connaught, called Lugh Ribh, there is an island, which 
Avas denominated J?7?zzs Cloihra, in honour of the mother of Lughaidh, 
whose name was Clothra. 

After the occurrence of this event, which was unexampled in Irish 
history, the national estates assembled at Tara, and elected Connor 
Abra ruadh, (so called from his red eye-brows,) supreme monarch. 
He was the son oi Feargus Fairghe, king of Leinster, or Feargus of 
the Sea, an appellation given him on account of his great navy. 
Connor was the grandson of the monarch Nuadh, of the house of 
Heremon. His regal power was not afforded time to develope either 
virtues or vices, for he was vanquished and slain in battle, in the 
first year of his reign, by his successor Criomthan. 

The victorious Criomthan was the son of the monarch Lughaidh. 
He is represented by our annalists to have been a prince of rar& en- 
dowments, and of such invincible courage in martial exploits, as to 
obtain from his countrymen the honourable adjunctive name of 
Adaoine, which signifies, in Irish, the hero. Keating and O'Hal- 
loran concur in asserting that this monarch carried the terror of his 
arms from Britain to Gaul, and that he vanquished the Roman legions 
in several pitched battles. His romantic courage, according to these 
authorities, was seconded by a great military genius. The matured 
experience he had acquired in war, enabled him to introduce a new 
discipline among his troops, which rendered them the most formid- 
able body that combated with the Romans at that period. Shortly 
after the victorious monarch had returned from his foreign conquest 
to Tara, he was thrown from his horse, while hunting in Meath, and 
killed in the vicinity of the palace, in the sixteenth year of his reign. 



CHAPTER XXIL 

The rise of the Mtachotic icar. — The usurpation of Cairhre. — Moran's disinterested 
conduct, and the accession of Fearaidach to the throne. — Jin account of Morans 
famous collar. 

The attentive readers of this history are aware, that during the 
period intervening the landing of the Milesians, and the death of 
Criomthan, which comprises a term of thirteen hundred and five 
years, Ireland was successively governed by a race of kings lineally 
descended from the hero of Spain. But an unexpected revolution at 
this epoch subverted, for a time, the legitimate succession. The 
descendants of the Belgians, still cherishing the hope of recovering 
the regal authority from the posterity of the conquerors of their pro- 
genitors, fomented a conspiracy, which resulted in elevating Cairbre, 
a Belgian chieftain, to the Irish throne. 

Cairbre possessed, we are told, shining abilities both as a warrior 
and a statesman, and by their efficient exertion he succeeded in win- 
ning over to his interest the discontented Damnonii, and in enlisting 
under his standard bands of Britons and Gauls. His plans were 
managed with consummate address and profound secrecy ; and the 
period he selected for making a bold effort for the sovereignty was 
one that fairly promised success. Shortly after the funeral of the 
late lamented monarch, Criomthan, had been suitably solemnized, 
the national estates, and the princes and nobles of thekingdom assem- 
bled at Tara, for the purpose of electing a successor to the crown. 
The festal entertainments that usually took place on such occasions 
were observed now with as much pomp and parade as ever. For 
three days the rich banquet and the racy goblet ministered to the 
gratification of the assembled nobles and representatives. Convivial 
hilarity banished care and lulled suspicion, and in moments conse- 
crated to mirth and revelry the existence of the conspiracy was not 
even dreamed of by the pretended omniscient druidical prophets. 
Cairbre, aware of the state of things in Tara, and that festive plea- 
sures engrossed the whole attention of its inmates, conducted his 
troops by private pathways to an ambuscade in the forest adjoining 
the palace, where he watched a favorable opportunity to achieve his 
daring project. At a late hour of the night, when the Milesians 
W€re|disordered and stultified with Avine, Cairbre and his adherents 
rushed into the palace, and slaughtered all the assembled guests, in 
cold blood, without either mercy or distinction. The sanguinary 
Cairbre was then proclaimed king by his soldiery, who compelled 
the terrified arch-druid to inaugurate him with the accustomed 
solemnities, on the stone of destiny. From that throne, which he 
reared as it were in the midst of a charnel-house, he made strong 
professions' of patriotism, and of his intention to govern the Irish 
nation in the spirit of justice and constitutional law. 

For five years, the period of his reign, more no doubt from fear 
than inclination, he acted towards the nation with singular mildness 
and lenity. When he ascended a throne by a ladder of murder and 



167 

usurpation, like another Augustus Caesar, he was abhorred by all 
classes of the people; but after he had attained the summit of his 
ambition, he divested himself of the feelings of the tyrant, and sur- 
rendered his heart and affections to the generous virtues of the 
patriotic and paternal king. His death was, therefore, universally 
deplored, as a national calamity. His obsequies were celebrated 
with unexampled pomp and pageantry. 

The popularity of the father was too high in the estimation of the 
people, to encourage any rival to dispute the legitimacy of the son's 
claim to the Irish throne, though it had been seized by untitled 
usurpation. Moran, the heir apparent, was consequently proclaim- 
ed monarch of Ireland, with the accustomed formalities. But as 
soon as a deputation of the national representatives waited upon 
prince Moran, to offer him the homage due to a sovereign, and felic- 
itate him on his accession to the throne, they were amazed, when, 
on announcing the object of their visit to this prince, that he spurned 
their offer of allegiance with a magnanimous spirit of self-denial, and 
nobleness of heroism, for which the history of Ireland could furnish 
no parallel. While they were mute with astonishment at this signal 
display of virtue, he emphatically addressed them, as follows : — 
" Gentlemen," said he, " I never shall wear that crown to which I 
have no just right, except what I might assert from the violence and 
aggression that placed it on my father's brow. Do you conceive 
Moran so ignoble, as to accept the power which is based on such 
futile, nay, dishonourable claims 1 No, gentlemen, you wrong me, 
when you suppose that injustice should be the foundation of the 
structure of ray personal aggrandizement. If my own honest merits 
cannot light a radiant torch of fame to point me out to the applause 
of posterity, let my deeds rest in the darkness of guiltless oblivion, 
rather than that inglorious ones should glare in the lurid rays shed 
from the sepulchral lamps which dimly burn in my father's tomb. 
That human exaltation which soars on the pinions of unfounded' 
pretension, can never reach the lofty pinnacles of immortality's im- 
perishable temple." He then eloquently conjured them to restore 
the illustrious line of Milesius to that regal power which they had 
wielded for so many centuries with such brilliant glory. The repre- 
sentatives, equally impressed with the heroism of his sacrifice, and 
the persuasive power of his eloquence, promised him that they would 
yield to his request, and recall prince Fearaidach, the son of the 
monarch Criomthan, who had escaped the massacre of Cairbre, to 
the throne of his ancestors.* 

* " There is not in all history, as I remember, another instance of a revolution like 
this : brought about by the self-denial and strength of mind of a single man, called to 
the exercise of royal power through the wickedness and perfidy of his own father, 
divesting himself of it, and disarming a giddy multitude, in order to establish the 
public tranquillity, and set the lawful heir upon the throne. '—Warner. 

We certainly believe that ancient history affords no precedent for such a noble 
and heroic sacrifice as Moran's, if we except the solitary instance which Plutarch 
adduces in the life of the famous Spartan law-giver Lycurgus. The Spartan 
prince, though called, by general consent, to the throne, on the death of his 
brother Polydectes, was no sooner apprised that his sister-in-law was pregnant, 
than he abdicated the regal sway, and assumed the regency of the state, which he 
resigned when his nephew Charilaus arrived at the age of maturity. — P. 

" Moran, at this heathen period, exhibited a rare instance of virtuous forbearance, 



168 

When the Milesian prince,, in consequence of this procedure, 
returned to Tara, he paid his first visit to Moran, whom he warmly 
assured of the eternal gratitude with which his exalted disinterestedness 
had inspired his heart. The monarch, on the day of his coronation, 
in the great hall of the national convention, invested Moran with the 
two-fold offices of arch-druid, and chief justice of the realm ; high 
posts, next in dignity, power, and honour, to the sovereignty itself. 
At the recommendation of the pontiff, a general act of amnesty and 
oblivion was passed, in order to exempt the followers of his father 
from all personal or araercive inflictions for past offences. 

The king, by acting under the sage wisdom and equitable justice 
of Moran, in his government, became truly popular with his people, 
whose affections he thus secured. The abilities and prudence of the 
minister gave added lustre to the administration of the monarch, on 
whom the national voice, with one accord, bestowed the title of the 
" Most Just." To meliorate the condition of the people, reform 
obnoxious laws of the state, and give a spirit and impulse to national 
industry, became equally the favourite object of the king and his 
prime minister. From such a beneficial pursuit all the blessings 
that can contribute to the happiness of a country, flowed abun- 
dantly, in an inexhaustible stream. Moran's decisions in the courts 
of law, were so remarkable for their impartiality and fairness, 
that it became provei-bial to say of an equitable award, " i^ is as just 
as if it ivere settled by Mo?'an.'^ His reputation for candour and in- 
tegrity was held in the highest reverence by the people ; and such 
was the power of his virtues over their superstitious credulity, that 
they believed the torque, or chain of gold which he wore, as the 
badge of his office, had the extraordinary magic virtue of contract- 
ing round the neck of a false witness to such a degree of compression 
as would produce suffocation ; while on the neck of the witness who 
declared the truth, it would expand and hang loosely. This fabled 
ordeal caused future justices, as we are informed, to decide with 
uprightness and equity, and witnesses to make averments of truth. 
The traditional memory of this celebrated chain is still so well pre- 
served in the reverence of the peasantry, that we have ourself fre- 
quently heard persons, while earnestly avowing their innocence of 
any accusation, or solemnly asseverating absolute truth, assert, 
" We could swear by Moran's chain for it." " The supposed virtue 
of this collar," writes O'Halloran, " was a wonderful preservative 
from perjury, and prevarication ; for no witness would venture into 
a court to support a bad cause, as he apprehended the effects of it 
if placed round his neck. To swear by the collar of Moran, is still 
deemed a most solemn appeal,"* 

that proves how much an honest and elevated mind is always under the influence 
of conscientious and equitable motives." — Transactions of the Dublin Gaelic 
Society. 

* '• This collar often caused iniquitous judges to decree impartially. For the 
sake of humanity, we would have vi^ished that Moran's chain had encompassed, 
during his judicial career, the late Lord Norbury's neck, and he would not, in that 
case, have doomed so many of his ill-fated countrymen to the tortures of a hempen 
collar." — nitisti alions of Irish History, Dublin, 1819. 

" If this collar was put about the neck of a wicked judge, who intended an unjust 



169 

Dr. O'Halloran's conjecture that Fearaidach fought against the 
Romans, in south Britain, as the ally of the celebrated king of Bri- 
tain, Caractacus, is not sustained by that chain of contemporaneous 
historical evidence which should entitle it to credence. 

After a reign which had been so prolific with beneficial results to 
Ireland, the good and peaceable Fearaidach died at Tara, in the 
twentieth year of his regal sway, sincerely lamented by the whole 
nation, A. D. 66. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

The reign of Fiachadhfion ; the reign and death of Fiachadh. — The battle of the 
Grampian Hills. — The accession of Eiim to the throne of Ireland ; his death and 
the reign of his successor, Tuathal. — Reform in the Irish Constitution. — Eochaidh, 
by artifice, obtains two siiter-Princesses in marriage. — Tlie conseqiiences which 
ensued. — Tribute imposed on Leinster. — Tuathal's exploits in Britain. — Remarks 
on the Boroihme. — Death and character of Tuathal. 

After the death of the late Monarch, Fearaidach, the national 
representatives, elected Fiachadhfion monarch, notwithstanding the 
high and more legitimate claims of Prince Fiachadh, the son and 
heir of the good Fearaidach. But intrigue then, no more than now, 
seldom estimated the candidates by the standard of superior virtue. 

The successful Prince was the son of Daire, of the dynasty of 
Heremon. When he attained the summit of his ambition, he indulg- 
ed to excess in all those licentious vices which tend to corrupt the 
heart, warp the understanding, and enervate the mental powers of 
Princes. As crafty ministers generally produce much evil under 
such weak and effeminate kings, the government of Fiachadhfion 
soon became intolerably despotic; and the people being no longer able 
to endure its injustice and hardships, took up arms, in order to sub- 
vert it. The flame of disaffection spread itself in a full blaze over 
the nation, and the vowed vengeance which wrongs and persecutions 
sealed in every heart with the desire of gratification, contributed an 
accumulation of fuel to the devouring and raging elements of revolt. 
The united voice of the insurgents called upon Prince Fiachadh to 
place himself at their head, and lead them to victory and freedom. 
This offer was promptly accepted by the ambitious chieftain, and 
the insurgents rapidly marched towards Tara under his command. 
The king collected all the forces he could muster at so critical and 
unexpected an emergency, and marched to Ratoath* in Meath, 

or partial sentence, it would continue shrinking until it strangled hiin, or till he 
changed his sentence into a just one, when it would instantly dilate, and set him 
at liberty." — Warner. 

* Ratoath is a small village, situated in the bosom of a beautiful country, at 
the distance of thirteen miles from Dublin. From the summit of the Rath, or 
mound of this place, the view is extensive and beautiful. The Protestant Church 
is built on the ruins of the fine abbey which was founded here, A. D. 1013, by the 
McNallys, who were the lords of the soil until the arrival of the English. 

22 



170 

where the invaders were encamped. The contending belligerents 
quickly came to a decisive battle, in which the monarch, after a brave 
struggle, was overthrown and slain, in the third year of his reign. 
The conqueror, like all his predecessors, found no further obstacles 
to oppose his accesion to the throne. He entered Tara in triumph, 
where he was solemnly inaugurated by the Druids, A. D. 69. It 
was at this period, we are told by our annalists, that Agricola laid a 
great part of Britain waste by fire and sword. The harassed Britons, 
groaning under the weight of their chains, earnestly implored the 
Irish monarch to become their protector, and assist them with aid 
to shake off the Roman yoke. Flachadh,, no doubt, apprehensive 
that the warlike legions of Agricola might invade his own kingdom, 
quickly granted the required succours. An expedition, under the 
orders of his best general, Cormac Gealia-Goath, whom Tacitus dis- 
tinguishes by the name of GaJgachus, promptly sailed to Britain, 
As soon as the forces landed, the Irish General promulgated a pro- 
clamation, in which he reminded the Britons of their Irish origin, and 
called upon them to join his standard, with the alacrity and spirit of 
men who were actuated with pure patriotism, and the ardent desire 
of liberty. The arrival of the auxUiaries revived the hopes of the 
oppressed Britons, and raised their dejected spirits. The Romans 
having at this juncture, marched against the Picts, the Irish General, 
at the head of the combined array, soon set out in pursuit of them. 
Agricola, aware of the power of the army in his rear, took up a 
strong position on the Grampian Hills, and there fearlessly and con- 
fidently, waited the approach of his pursuing foe. 

Notwithstanding the strength of Agricola's inaccessible position, 
the Irish General resolved to attack him, vainly hoping that the 
valour of the Irish army would surmount all difficulties and disad- 
vantages. Though the assault was conducted to the very centre of 
the Roman army, with the most enthusiastic and intrepid bravery, 
still Roman experience and discipline proved too formidable in such 
a vantage ground for Irish heroism. The combined army was cut 
to. pieces, and Cormac, with his whole stafi^, died nobly on the 
fiercely contested field of glory. As soon as the news of this disas- 
ter reached Ireland, it generated alarm in every mind ; and the dread 
of a visit from the Romans was the feeling that predominated in 
every heart. The monarch, far from sharing in the general panic, 
bore the misfortune of his arms with that fortitude which is inspired 
by hope. 

He proceeded to raise fresh forces, with which, in person, he 
resolved to make another struggle with the Romans. 

But while he was accelerating his martial preparations, and organ- 
izing plans to retrieve the loss his arms had sustained, a conspiracy, 
set on foot by Elim, king of Ulster, constrained him to abandon his 
designs of foreign warfare, in order to chastise his domestic enemies. 
The defeat of the Irish army, in the Pictish campaign, was wholly 
attributed by the factious insurgents to the king, which rotjsed the 
ebullition of popular feeling, strongly against him, so that Elim in the 
course of his march to Tara, saw his forces daily augmented by 
bands of the discontented. The monarch marshalled his household 



troops, and with all the raw levies he could collect in such an unto- 
ward emergency, marched forth in all the pride of patriotic valour 
to oppose the malecontents. The hostile powers came to an engage- 
ment at Carlanstot07i,* in the county of Meath, where the gallant 
king was totally defeated, and deprived of life and crown, A. D. 86. 
The nest day after this battle, Elim, the victor, was solemnly in- 
vested with the royal prerogatives, at the palace of Tara. Elim's 
descent was directly from Ir, the son of Miiesius. No sooner had 
he been seated on the throne, than he caused the national estates to 
enact a law for the banishment of Tuathal, the infant son and sole 
heir of the last monarch. "When the edict was published, the Prince, 
with his mother and brethren, fled to Albania. After this expulsion, 
the new Ring thought he might play the despotic tyrant with im- 
punity. 

The Heremonian nobility, against whom he cherished the most 
vindictive feelings of jealousy and hatred, were the marked objects 
of his rancorous resentment. 

His unjust aggressions upon the rights and liberties of this royal 
sept, the most powerful in the kingdom, were the forerunners of his 
own downfall. The arbitrary measures he every day resorted to, 
served to fan the flame of popular disaffection to his government, 
and a well organized conspiracy, which had been long in process of 
fomentation, at last broke out in open and armed defiance against a 
king who trampled on the behests of justice, and, who regardless of 
all moral injunctions, oppressed his people, according to the unre- 
strained dictates of his own vicious passions. 

As soon as the insurgents conceived themselves formidable enough 
to take the field, they proclaimed the exiled Tuathal monarch of 
Ireland. When the Prince, at the court of his grand-father, the 
Pictish king, learned of the manifestation of the public mind in his 
favour, he invaded Ireland with a considerable force of his Irish 
adherents, and Scottish allies. Scarcely had he unfurled his stand- 
ard on the shores of Connaught, ere the whole population flocked to 
his ranks. At this juncture an alarming famine prevailed in Ire- 
land, which visitation the cunning Druids, with whom Elim was no 
favorite, speciously attributed to Divine displeasure- at the tyrannic 
acts of the reigning monarch. 

The march of Tuathal from the coast of Mayo to the borders of 
Meath resembled a triumphal procession. 

Elim, not being then in a situation to hazard a battle, abandoned 
his palace at Tara, and with all his forces and followers retreated to 
the territories of his brother-in-law, the king of Leinster. Tuathal 
meeting no resistance, entered Tara, where the Druids, the Princes 
of his house, as well as the greater portion of the nobility, gave him 
an enthusiastic welcome. As soon as the ceremony of his corona- 
tion was over, he invaded Leinster, for the avowed purpose of chas- 

^ Carlanstown, the scene of this battle, is a rural village, 34 miles from Dublin, 
mostly occupied by industrious farmers. T?here is a large cattle fair held here on 
the first of every May, which is numerously attended. The country around it is 
riclily cultivated. The abbey which was founded here by Walter de Lacy, A. D. 
1186, is a heap of mutilated ruins, without a distinctive feature, save two mural 
fragments, of its pristine architecture. 



173 

tising EocHAiDH, the king of that province, for his temerity in 
supplying Elim with forces and other means of warfare. Ehm, on 
the other hand, I'esolved to recover his lost crown or perish in the 
attempt, made a stand at a place called Aide, in the county of 
Dublin. The battle which ensued, as fierce and bloody as any re- 
corded in the Irish annals, terminated in the discomfiture and des- 
truction of Elim and his army. Eochaidh, the king of Leinster, and 
the survivors of his army, who had suffered dreadfully in the conflict, 
bent their flight towards Ferns. The victorious monarch after 
superintending the burial of the dead, proceeded on his march to 
the capital of Leinster. 

Eochaidh, in order to save Ferns from the horrors of a storm, sent 
a Laureate Bard, and a chief Herald, to the conqueror, to announce 
his unqalified submission to such terms as he might think proper to 
prescribe. Tuathal's requisitions of tribute, though exorbitant, as 
we are told, in the extreme, were liquidated with all possible 
despatch, which averted the ruin that impended over the fate of 
Leinster. 

With a rich acquisition of spoils and trophies, the Irish monarch 
returned to Tara, where he was received, by all classes of the people, 
with the most enthusiastic demonstration of popular affection and 
regard. 

His magnanimity of soul, and his martial bravery, furnished the 
Bards with ample themes at this epoch for the display of poetic 
genius. Immediately after his return he convoked an assembly of 
the national delegates. He opened his grand and memorable con- 
vention by an energetic speech from the throne, iq which he bewail- 
ed in pathetic eloquence, the miseries which had so long flowed from 
that fruitful source of a country's direst misfortune — internal 

DISCORD. 

" Gentlemen,"* added he, " let us entitle ourselves to the grati- 
tude of posterity, by desiccating the fountain whose current has for 
ages borne on its maHgnant effusion the royal blood of Milesius. 
Let its destructive overflowinsjs be confined hereafter within the 
immoveable and sacred boundaries of a decretory law, which I 
solemnly invoke you, in the name of our country, I earnestly conjure 
you in the name of humanity, in the name of my ancestral rights, 
and of those legitimate claims, which the valour of my ilhistrious 
progenitors Hereraon, and Jughaine the Great, won bv their bravery 
for their descendants, to enact in your legislative wisdom, and con- 
firm by the solemnity of your oaths ; so that this ordinance may 
crush civil strife for ever in Ireland. Raise a barrier, I implore you 
against the ambition of the Heberian and Irian dynasties, and pro- 
tect inviolable the throne of Heremon from the unfounded pretension 
of usurpation. 

" Behold, Senators ! the Roman legions menacing our coasts, and 
pampering their lofty hopes with the expectation of subjecting this 
sacred Isle, rich with the dust of Milesian heroes, to their tyrannic 

* This speech which is to be found in the original Irish, in Bisliop "Molloy's 
genealogies of Irish Kings," was never before, we confidently beheve, given in the 
English language. We are aware that our translation is far distant from the 
spirit and beauty of the original. — Author. 



173 

yoke. Will you suffer your wives and daughters to share the ignoble 
fate of the females of Britain and Albania: will you suffer the 
Roman Eagles to perch on the national standard of Gathelus, that 
sacred standard which the great Hebrew prophet, Moses, gave, after 
blessing it, to the founder of the Milesian race ? Be but united in 
patriotism, be but firm in concord, and the Irish atmosphere shall 
never be poisoned by the breath of the Roman invaders. 

" When we march forth to battle, the coming foe, with souls en- 
kindled with the spirit of patriotism, the despoiler's power will recede 
from our spears, as the foaming waves recoil after laeing broken and 
dissolved on the shelving rocks of our shores. Yes, Senators, if 
that demon which has for centuries been the curse and bane of Ire- 
land, destructive and intestine dissension, makes no chasms in o,ur 
devotion and love of country, the Romans shall find us invincible, 
and as firm in the fight as the majestic mountain, which, while seated 
on its ocean throne, seems to look down with smiling contempt at 
the idle rage of the turbulent billows that bursts on its rocky foot- 
stool." 

This liarangue produced a great sensation in the minds of the 
national assembly, and all the members of which, after giving ex- 
pression to a burst of enthusiastic acclamation, rose with one simul- 
taneous accord, and swore by the sun, moon, and stars, to bear true 
and unshaken allegiance to Tuathal, and to his legitimate posterity. 
They then passed a law excluding the descendants of Heber, Ir, and 
Ith, from the Irish throne for ever.* The monarch's heart was 
touched with gratitude by the devotion of the Convention, and the 
facility with which they had enacted a law, that he vainly imagined 
would secure the regal authority to his most remote posterity. But 
the sequel of this chapter will add another proof to the instability of 
human greatness, and an exemplifying instance, that those princes 
who place their trust on the permanence of popular opinion, only 
built the edifice of hope on a sinking quagmire of delusion. 

By his address and eloquence he wound up the feelings of the 
national representatives to the highest key-note of his w ishes. They 
legislated on every measure, according to his dictation : the ambi- 
tious monarch willed, and the obsequious senate promptly obeyed. 

To carry their complaisance as far into servility as possible, they 
appropriated to the royal domains of Tara, a large tract of country, 
now known by the names of the counties of West and East Meath, 
alienated from Leinster, Con naught and Ulster. By their decree 
this portion of land was to be the mensal patrimony of the reigning 
sovereign, in order to enable him to entertain his guests with all the 
plenty and pomp of Royal Irish hospitality. t In the Irish records, 

* " No law was ever more solemnly recognised than this, in favour of Tuathal's 
family. It shows how sensible this people were, of the evils attending an elective 
form of government, although their manners and customs would not admit of any 
other. It ended finally in the ruin of the nation by the fatal contests and hostilities 
of the O'Neils and the O'Connors." — Dissertations on the Irish History. 

t " A people who carried the idea of munificent hospitality to the most bound- 
less generosity, could not he censured for furnishing means to a king to entertain 
his visitants in a style commensurate with his dignity." — Nicholson. 

" When the convention of Tara passed this law, they were only acting a pat- 



174 

the county of Meath is designated " Fearon Buird Righ Erion,^^ or 
the Table Lands of the monarch of Ireland. Tuathal was most 
assiduous in his endeavours to gain the good opinion of the Druids, 
whose religious influence over the public mind possessed a prepon- 
derating power of superstition. The reverential respect which he 
paid them in public, added much to their sanctimonious consequence 
in the nation. In each portion of his newly acquired domain, he 
built a palace, as well asaDruidical temple. The temple at Flachtga, 
now called New Grange, in the county of Louth, about five miles 
north of Drogheda, was, if we may judge from appearances, a superb 
pile of architecture, whose ruins still remain to convince the incre- 
dulous of its ancient grandeur.* This edifice was dedicated to the 
moon, and in it for ages the Druids ofiered sacrifices on the eve of 
every first of November, when annually all the Druids of the nation 
attended to worship, and kindle what was denominated the sacred 
fire, because every householder in the kingdom was compelled by 
law to extinguish every spark on his hearth, and under pain of being 
branded with impiety, to procure at a stipulated price, from the 
arch-Druids of Samliuin fresh fire for the winter. The temple of 
Usneach, in the County of Westmealh, was sacred to the worship 
of Bel, or the Sun, where the religious ceremonies and oblations of 
that deity were performed with great pomp and solemnity, on every 
first day of May. On this great Druidical festival, two fires were 
kindled in every district of the country, in honour of the pagan god. 
♦' It was," says Keating, "a solemn custom at this time, A. D. 101, 
to drive a number of cattle of every kind between these fires ; this 

riotic part, as hospitality was, in their opinion, one of the highest virtues that 
could adorn an Irisii king." — ^Vallancey. 

" The decree was made for tlie separation of a large tract of land from three 
provinces, for the demesne land of the crown, in order to supply the monarch's 
table with those sumptuous and luxurious viands, which distinguished the hospi- 
tality of the ancient Irish." — Warner. 

" Tuathal, in order to render all future kings of the island the better able to 
keep down the aristocratical spirit, took counties of considerable extent from the 
other provinces, and formed a sixth province known by the name of Meath. This 
noble domain, added to the ordinary revenues, rendered his successors more inde- 
pendent and respectable than the monarchs who reigned in ancient times." — 
O'Connor. 

* " It is a ridiculous assumption in some English writers, who to gratify their 
prejudice, maintain that the ancient Irish were not eminent in architecture before 
the invasion, as the round towers, antique cathedrals of Cashel, Clonard, Armagh, 
Ardfert, and many others, with hundreds of old abbeys, and innumerable Druidical 
altars and caves, to this day exhibit ruins which would be admired among those 
of a Palmyra or a Babylon for their striking grandeur of design, and beauty of 
workmanship. The Tumulus and Druidical cave, near the town of Drogheda, 
which were built in the first century, according to the learned Camden and Ray- 
mond, by Tuathal, monarch of Ireland, must impress every traveller with a deep 
sense of the ingenuity of the royal designer and ingenious architect. The cave, 
which is elegantly vaulted with polished marble slabs, indented into each other, is 
eighty feet long, with a marble paved floor, and walls incrusted with the same 
material. There is a has-relief, and hieroglyphic inscriptions on some of the pan- 
nels. on both sides of the entrance boldly sculptured. Dr. Llhvvyd,the celebrated 
Welsh antiquarian, visited this cave, where, on causing an excavation to be made 
in the floor, he discovered a gold coin of the Emperor Valentinian." — Vido Beau- 
ford's ancient Topogi-aphy of Ireland. 

We have already described the cave of New Grange, in the course of this 
history. 



175 

was conceived to be an antidote and a preservation against the 
murrain, or any other distemper among live stock, for the year 
ensuing. 

"And from those fires that were made in honour of the god Bel, 
or Belus, the day upon which the Christian festival of St. Phihp, 
and St. James is observed, is called in Irish, La JBaeltinne, (tlie day 
of Bel's fire,) which is still celebrated by rustic dances and other 
amusements, in different parts of Ireland. So intent was Tuathal 
on raising the morals of his people to the highest pitch of virtuous 
refinement, that to promote connubial alliances, he offered prizes to 
such young men as would select their wives at the great fair of Tail- 
tean, near Rells, where he erected a temple for the celebration of 
the marriage contract." Here rival knights contended at tilts and 
tournaments for the ladies of their love, and poets sang, and rustics 
wrestled, to win the smiles and hearts of the fair. O'Flaherty, in 
his relation of the Tailtean games, says, "that the strictest order 
and most beconiing decency were observed in this meeting ; for the 
men were placed by themselves ; the women also had a peculiar 
station, at a convenient distance, assigned them, where the parents 
treated about the disposal of their children, and as soon as the arti- 
cles were agreed upon, the young man presented a garland of roses 
and May flowers to the elected object of his choice, and then led 
her to the Druidical altar, where the nuptial rite was religiously 
solemnized by the Druids."* 

Mr. Moore, in relating the Druidical ceremonies at the temple of 
Usneach, writes: — " The sacred hills and Tumuli of the Irish were 
appropriated to a variety of purposes ; for there the sacrifice was 
otfered by the priest, from thence the legislator or Judge promulgat- 
ed his decrees, and where the king, on his inauguration, was present- 
ed with the wand of power. Of these consecrated high places, the 
most memorable was the hill of Usneach, in West Meath, as well 
from the national convention, of which it was the frequent scene, as 
because, upon its summit the limits of the five provinces of Ireland 
touched; and, in like manner, as the field of Enna was called ' the 
navel of Sicily,' and the site of the temple of Delphi, ' the navel of 
the earth's,' so the stone which marked this common boundary of the 
five provinces into which the Island was then divided, was termed 
the ' navel of Ireland.' Here the Druids on solemn occasions were 
accustomed to hold their meetings." 

This wise, clement, and truly beneficent Prince, caused all the 
noble institutions of his famous predecessor, Ollamh Fodlila, to be 
revived and renovated. An efficient police was established, and 
agriculture and commerce received a stimulating impulse from the 
active solicitude and attention of the sovereign, that carried them 
to the most flourishing perfection. Indeed, at this juncture, we have 

* "The sports of this famed fair, which continued fourteen days, consisted of 
chariot racing, feats of chivalry, hurUng, and other manly exercises. Noble amphi- 
theatres were erected for the more easy reviewing the different exhibitions. At 
this fair, marriages and alliances were formed between the nobility and people, 
and every method studied to promote concord, morality and amusement." — 
O'Halloran. 



176 

the authority of Tacitus, for asserting that Ireland was the most 
commercial nation in the west of Europe. 

Mr. John D'Alton, in his valuable Prize essay, on the ancient 
history, religion, learning, arts and government of Ireland, says: 
" the reign of Tuathal, commencing A. D. 130, is that which reflects 
most popular splendour on the Irish annals, in the constitution and 
legislation which he established. Then it was that the kings and 
nobles began to devote themselves to sciences, hitherto confined to 
the Magi and Philosophers, and to compile that too slandered code, 
the Brehon laws. 

Tuathal's sole desire was to exalt the moral, intellectual and war- 
like character of his subjects, and diffuse among them those benign 
blessings which spring from a prudent, just and energetic govern- 
ment." 

Though the monarch devoted himself to the internal interests of 
his kingdom, with unwearied assiduity, he was not yet negligent of 
his military establishments, for he kept a watchful eye on the move- 
ments of the Roman legions in Britian and Caledonia, and was 
always ready with a standing army, to repel any attack they might 
direct against his coasts. To enable his uncle, the Pictish king, to 
resist the forces of the emperor Adrian, which were at this era, A. 
D. 118, after devastating Britain, menacing Caledonia with a preda- 
tory attack, he transported a large army to the assistance of the 
oppressed Picts. The Irish General, to whom the Pictish king 
assigned the chief command, immediately after landing, commenced 
offensive operations against the Romans, whom he defeated in two 
successive battles, and compelled to retreat in disorder to New 
Castle. The emperor, who was then in Wales, dreading that the 
Irish chieftain would push his conquests into the very heart of Bri- 
tain, and thus deprive him of the whole country, hastened to Carlisle, 
where in person, with his lieutenant, Julius Severus, he inspected 
the building of the celebrated wall that ran from that town to New- 
Castle-upon-Tyne, a distance of sixty miles. The allied army en- 
camped at Stirling, where the Generalissimo waited for orders from 
his sovereign to penetrate into Britain; but Tuathal and his council 
decided that this officer should not cross the Tweed in pursuit of the 
Romans. Shortly afterwards, an event occurred that lit up again 
the fires of civil war in Ireland, and constrained Tuathal to recall 
his forces from Caledonia. Eochaidh, king of Leinster, obtained 
the hand of the Princess Dairine, the monarch's eldest daughter in 
marriage. The royal bride was accompanied to the palace of Ferns, 
by her youngest sister, Fithir, a princess of extraordinary beauty. 
As soon as the king of Leinster had seen his lovely sister-in-law, 
whom our historians represent much more charming than his wife, he 
conceived a dislike for his consort, and a passionate desire to possess 
the young Fithir. To enjoy her person became the sole wish of his 
heart, the daily dream of his thoughts. As love is fruitful in expe- 
dients to obtain the object of its longing, he set out on a journey to 
Tara, shortly after the return thither of the Princess, and in his first 
audience with the king, assumed the most mournful air of melan- 
choly sadness, while with sobs and sighs, and all the deceptive iudi- 



177 

cations of woe, he declared that his queen had expired suddenly a 
few days before, "an event," said he, " which will inevitably break 
my heart, unless your majesty snatches me from the precipice of 
despair, by giving me the Princess Fithir, to sooth my sorrows, and 
replace in those vacant arms the counterpart of that angelic perfec- 
tion, of which relentless death has robbed them." The monarch, 
sympathising in his assumed affliction, assured him, that if he could 
gain the affections of the Princess, he should oppose no obstacle to 
their union. Eochaidh being an adept in gallantry, seductively 
wooed, and triumphantly captivated the lady. The nuptials of the 
happy pair were speedily solemnized and consummated at Tara. 
In a short time afterwards, Eochaidh and his beauteous bride set 
out for the palace of Ferns. When they arrived there, the shame 
and amazement of Fitliir on finding her sister alive, may be conceiv- 
ed, but cannot be expressed. The fiends of jealousy frowned 
malignantly in Dairine's countenance, as she loaded her poor inno- 
cent sister with the most opprobrious invectives of rage and resent- 
ment, which operated so potently on the tender sensibilities of her 
youthful victim, that she was seized with a fit of convulsions, which 
terminated her existence. Dairine, affected at the death of a sister 
whom before she loved so dearly, threw herself on the body, and in 
a paroxysm of grief plunged a dagger in her bosom. 

The singular death of these princesses would be a fine theme for 
the tragic muse of Sheil. 

As soon as the monarch was made acquainted with the duplicity 
of the king of Leinster, and the consequent tragic fate of his daugh- 
ters, his whole feelings were inflamed with burning indignation. 
He, in the rage of his wrath, swore before the altar of Bel, that his 
vengeance should be terrible, and commensurate to the atrocious 
perfidy of Eochaidh ; and that he should not only punish himself, 
but lay waste his kingdom with fire and sword. The national estates, 
and provincial princes who were summoned on this memorable 
occasion, passed sentence of reprobation against Eochaidh, and 
supplicated the monarch to deprive him of his throne. War was 
instantly declared, and Tuathal, with a mind chafing with the glow- 
ing desire of revenge, led his army into Leinster, which in the course 
of his march, he devastated with the most dreadful ravages that an 
infuriated conqueror could employ in a sanguinary career of merci- 
less depredations. Fire and blood, and smoking habitations, left 
legible traces of his destructive pathway in Leinster. 

Eochaidh, with a few followers, fled from his palace in consterna- 
tion, for he well knew that flight alone could save him from the 
implacable vengeance of the chief monarch. From the place of his 
secret refuge, he despatched iiis chief bard to Tuathal, with full 
powers to make offprs of the most abject submission to such terms 
as he might think proper to exact from himself, and his now ruined 
kingdom. 

The bard to whose subduing eloquence and accomplished address 

Eochaidh implicitly confided his dearest interests, succeeded in 

appeasing the choler of Tuathal, and by the patriotic charm of his 

song in melting his flinty heart to compassion. An armistice was 

23 



178 

reluctantly granted by the conqueror, who soon after, by the per- 
suasions of the poet, assented to a deiSnitive treaty of peace, which 
permitted the humbled king of Leinster to enjoy, as a vassal, his 
life and crown, on the following hard and degrading conditions. 
He bound himself and his heirs by sworn covenant, as well as by 
the pledge of hostages, to pay every alternate year, for ever, to the 
monarch of Ireland, three thousand fat oxen, three thousand ounces 
of pure silver ; three thousand silk mantles richly embroidered ; 
thi-ee thousand fat hogs ; three thousand prime wethers, and three 
thousand copper cauldrons.* 

By a legislative ordinance, passed in the national convention, the 
spoils of this aggressive and wanton tribute were to be divided be- 
tween the Irish monarch, the king of Ulster, and the prince of Orgial, 
as the O'Neil and O'Carroll, were the active allies of Tuathal, in 
the invasion of Leinster. It was for exacting the Leinster tribute,. 
in the beginning of the eleventh century, from king Maol Mordha, 
that Brian the Great received the distinctive appellation, or surname 
of JBoroihme. When Tuathal returned to Tara, flushed with the 
success that had attended his arms in Leinster, and satiated in re- 
venge, he announced to the national convention his determination 
of invading Britain, and of driving the Romans out of that country ; 
but while he was busily engaged in preparing the expedition on an 
extensive scale, a formidable revolt brought about by Mal, a prince 
of the Irian line, at once terminated his projects and his life, in the 
thirtieth year of his reign, A. D. 137. 

Tuathal, as a warrior and a statesman, possessed shining 
talents; and as a sovereign he displayed, during a glorious reign, 
the noblest virtues which can adorn the character of a monarch, and 
raise it up to an eminence iu the affectionate regards of a nation. 
His aggressive and cruel conduct in Leinster, and his iniquitous and 
indiscriminate punishment of a a whole people for the crime of their 
prince, were wicked and tyrannic acts of flagrant injustice, that have 
left a blotless stain upon his reputation, which no historian can ever 
expunge. 

* " This tribute, whose exaction for subsequent ages after the death of Tuathal, 
produced such disasters and civil wars in the country, is a convincing proof that 
ancient Ireland abounded with wealth. The most brilliant conquest of Napoleon 
did not yield a more valuable contribution than the Boroihme, or Leinster Tax." 
Gleemings of Irish History. 

" It was the source of much blood and confusion to the kingdom. Its amount 
is a demonstrative proof of the wealth and power of ancient Ireland." — O'Hal- 

LORAN. 

" If there was any pretence for punishing the people of the province by this 
exorbitant fine, for the dishonour done to Tuathal by their prince, there was not 
surely the least shadow of justice in continuing it after his death ; and we shall 
see in the sequel that the payment of it, though submitted to for several ages, was 
the frequent occasion of many contests, which proved fatal to the nobility and 
gentry on both sides, until it was abolished." — Warner. 

" Although the establishment made by Tuathal, throws great lustre on this 
period of our history, yet the imposition of the Boroihmean tribute on the province 
of Leinster, for the personal crimes of the Prince, was an act of flagitious tyranny." 
O'Connor. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Reign and death of Mai. — T7ie accession of Feidhlimidh — the events of his reign. — 
He enacts a law of retaliation. — Death of Feidhlimidh. — Cathoir More is elected 
Monarch. — Con of the hundred battles revolts. — Battle of Rathkenny in Meath, and 
defeat and death of Feidhlimidh. — His singular will.'-^Con I. ascends the throne. — 
Sends an army to invade Leinster. 

The Druids, ever ready to succumb to power, quickly impressed 
the seal of religion on the usurpation of Mai, by crowning him with 
all the pompous solemnities of their imposing ritual, on the stone of 
destiny. The national estates, quite regardless of the solemn oath 
which they had lately taken, in presence of Tuathal, to exclude 
every candidate from the Irish throne, who was not of the royal blood 
of Heremon, proinptly recognised by all legislative formalities, the 
new sovereign. 

Mai, in order to acquire popularity, adopted every measure that 
he conceived might have a tendency to secure the permanence of 
his power. The two first years of his reign were speciously conse- 
crated to the happiness of the kingdom ; but the third year developed 
the native cruelty and despotism of the arbitrary tyrant. 

The adherents of the late monarch were every where oppressed, 
and acts of the most aggressive enormity invaded the constitutional 
rights of the Irish people. He banished the wife and children of 
Tuathal to England, where they found a hospitable asylum at the 
court o{ Sgaile Balbh, who was then king of Britain, and father-in- 
law of the late monarch. The Irish Prince, young Feidhlimidh., by 
a display of valour and capacity, in a campaign against the Romans, 
rose to a high command in his uncle's army. Mai, daily dreading 
an insurrection, refused to assist the Britons with troops, a fact which 
accounts for the great scope of British and Pictish territories, which 
the Emperor Antonius, at this period, A. D. 139, subjected to his 
dominion. It was this celebrated Emperor, surnamed the pious, 
that raised the rampart which extends from the Frith of the Clyde 
to that of Forth. The martial fame of Feidhlimidh buoyed up the 
hopes of the Heremonians in Ireland, while it oppressed the heart of 
Mai with alarm. The despotism of the king transgressed those 
limits, within which justice and moderation would confine regal 
power. His excessses reached that point of atrocity where resistance 
is forced to repel intolerable aggression. The goaded peg^ple flew 
to arms, proclaimed Feidhlimidh monarch, and denounced Mai as a 
ruthless tyrant. As soon as the Prince heard of the revolt, he has- 
tened to his native land, and placed himself at the head of his devot- 
ed adherents. The elevation of his standard was the signal of a 
general insurrection ; so that before the Prince reached the borders 
of Meath, he saw his army swelled to a magnitude that insured suc- 
cess. Mai sallied forth from Tara, with all the forces he could levy, 
in order to make a gallant struggle for his life and crown. 

The hostile armies came to an engagement in the neighbourhood 
of Navan, in the county of Meath, A. D. 141, which, after a sanguin- 
ary struggle, that displayed prodigies of bravery on both sides, ter- 



180 

minated the reign and life of Mai, in the fourth year of his regal 
government. The conqueror then made his triumphal entry into 
Tara, where he was crowned monarch of Ireland. He summoned 
the national representatives, to whom he submitted a new code of 
laws, which in conjunction with the most learned of the Brehons, he 
had designed for the government of his kingdom. In his speech 
from the throne, he informed the senate, that the formation of a 
system of jurisprudence, Avhose great essence should be equitable 
justice, had long occupied liis mind. 

He then, in a luminous harangue, detailed his digest, which embrac- 
ed some of the best ordinances of Ollamh Fodhla, Jughaine More, 
Connor, Moran, and Tuathal, with the following amendments to 
their laws, which he conceived would perfect a model of legislation. 
The first statute declared that retaliation was the very behest of 
justice, and that the man who depi-ived another of life, should be 
seized and given up to the friends of the deceased, in order that they 
might inflict the punishment of death upon him. 

Every bodily injury, such as wounding, maiming, or disfiguring, 
■was according to the strict and rigid decision of inexorable retribu- 
tion, inflicted in an equal degree on the first perpetrator. It was a 
retaliatory law that extorted an " eye for an eye," a limb for a limb, 
and a " tooth for a tooth."* Those who despoiled their neighbours 
of their goods and cattle, were obliged to make ample restitution. 

In this case the law provided, that in case the aggressors could 
not compensate the injured parties, that the former should be visited 
with a punishment commensurate to the extent of the crime. " This 
most salutary law," says Dr. O'Halloran, " had all the good effects 
that were expected from it, and eased the subjects from great 
oppressions. Before its enactment, the most atrocious of crimes, a 
very few e.'icepted, were punished here, as in every other part of 
Europe, hj eric, or fine only." 

This eric, now abolished by this legislative sage, which means 
in the Irish, compensation, was assessed by a judge, who regulated 
its amount proportionate to the quality of the assassinated person, 
for the benefit of whose relatives it was levied from the goods or 
lands of the offender. But if the property of the delinquents could 

* " By the tenor of this law, the people of Ireland were brought to more human- 
ity, honesty, and good manners of every kind, than they ever were before ; and 
the monarch enjoyed the fruits of his just and useful administration, during nine 
years of his reign, till a natural death removed him out of the world. A much 
greater authority than that of any human legislator hath given a sanction to the 
law established by this monarch ; and it seems astonishing that it should be dis- 
continued in any Christian country. It is notonl}' the most equitable lav/ in itself, 
I presume to say, that can be conceived, against wilful injury, but in its conse- 
quence bids fairer than any other to promote public order and integrity. In Eng- 
land, we presume too much on our power of making laws, and too far infrino-e on 
the command of God, by taking away the lives of men, in the manner we do, for 
theft and robbery ; and this is not only a pernicious error, ' extreme justice is an 
extreme injury,' but a national abomination. A robber, indeed, in this country, . 
sees with his eyes open, and knows the penalty which he is going to incur; but 
the wilfulness of the crime is no sort of excuse for making the punishment far 
exceed the heinousness of the transgression ; and who v;ill deny that a little theft 
or robbery, perhaps of the value of two or three shillings only, is not punished in- 
finitely beyond a just proportion, when it is punished with death." — Wakner. 



181 

not be found, the officers of justice had power to distrain the pos- 
sessions of their kindred, in order to make up the stipulated sum for 
the satisfaction of the aggrieved party.* The eric, or punitive 
amercement was one of the legislative ordinances of eastern nations, 
for in the Book of Joh, a reference is made to it, where it is said, 
" skin for skin ; yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his life." 
All the legislative provisions in the famous code of Feidhlimidh 
received the seal of senatorial approbation. This Prince, who 
possessed all those ennobling virtues, that shine in the three-fold 
character of the statesman, philosopher and king, is distinguished in 
our annals by the appellation of " Rcaraidh-Glige" or the law-giver. 
His reign, of nine years, was one continued scene of justice, clemen- 
cy, and happiness. The blessings of peace were enjoyed by the 
nation, without the turmoil and misery of foreign or domestic war. 
The virtues of the king were examples for the imitations of the peo- 
ple, so that morals and intelligence rose to a high pitch of excellence 
under his salutary administration. Feidhlimidh, after governing 
Ireland for a period of nine years of unexampled tranquillity, and 
gaining the affections of a whole people, died quietly at the palace 
of Tara, a fate for which but few of his predecessors had been des- 
tined. His funeral honours were celebrated with extraordinary 
pomp, and his remains interred in the royal mausoleum of Cruachan, 
in tiie county of Roscommon. 

Mr. Moore, in his observations on the legislative enactments of 
this monarch, writes, " Whatever, in other respects may have been 
the civilization of the Irish before the reign of Ring Feidlim, (A. D. 
164) their notions of criminal jurisprudence were as yet but rude and 
barbarous; since we learn that the old law of 164, retaliation was 
then for the first time exchanged for the more lenient as well as less 
demoralizing mode of punishment by a mulct or eric. Some writers, 
it is true, have asserted that the very reverse, of what has been just 
stated, was the fact, and that Feidlim, finding the law of compensa- 
tion already established, introduced the Lex Talionis in its stead. 
But this assuredly would have been to retrograde rather than to 
advance in civilization ; one of the first steps towards civility, in the 
infancy of all nations, having been the substitution, in criminal justice, 
of fines proportionate to the offences,! for the savage law of retalia- 
tion, and the right of private revenge. Should even this improved 

* " There was no remedy against these assassinations, but by a mulctative eric. 
It was a reparation better than none, and generally levied on the offender's kind- 
dred, to make satisfaction to the clan for the loss of their Tigern, or the Tigern's 
vassal." 

t " Both by Spenser, and Sir John Davis, this custom of compounding the crime 
of homicide by fine is spoken of as peculiar to the Irish, and the latter writer even 
grounds upon it a most heavy charge against that people, either forgetting that this 
mode of composition for manslaughter formed a part of the Anglo-Saxon code, or 
else wilfully suppressing that fact for the purpose of aggravating his list of charges 
against the Brehon law. As there will occur other opportunities for considering 
this question, I shall here only remark that however it may have been customary 
among the ancient Pagan Irish to punish homicide by a mulct, or eric, alone, there 
are proofs that, in later times, and before the coming of the English, not only was 
wilful murder, but also the crimes of rape and robbery, made legally punishable by 
death."— rO'iJeiZZ]/ on the Brehon laics, Vol. I. Section 8. 



182 

stage of jurisprudence, under which murders of the darkest kind 
might be compounded for, appear sufficiently barbarous, but it should 
be recollected that neither the Greeks at the time of the Trojan war, 
nor the English under their great ruler, Alfred, had yet advanced a 
step farther." 

The national estates had, at last, after a long cessation, an oppor- 
tunity of exercising their elective privileges in choosing a new mon- 
arch from the Heremonian stock. The object of their election was 
Cailioir 31ore, the grandson of the celebrated hero Gaoltha, or the 
Galgacus of Tacitus, who as commander of the Irish militia, fought 
so valiantly against Julius Agricola, in Britain. 

This Prince, who was lineally descended from king Heremon, 
was a man of genius, courage, and magnanimity of soul. In the first 
year of his reign, he suppressed two insurrections set on foot by the 
Heberians. But he only smothered for a time the flames of revolt, 
without extinguishing them. A Prince of his own family, fomented 
a rebellion, that eventually put a period to his existence, in the third 
year of his reign. The instigator of this insurrection was the famous 
Con, who afterwards made such a shining figure in our history, as 
" the hero of the hundred battles." He fought as a soldier of fortune 
in Gaul and Britain, so that to the skill of the general, he added the 
chivalry of the champion. He was prepossessing in personal 
appearance, and elegant in manners, so that the gifts of nature and 
the graces of education, united in embellishing his body and mind. 
By those fascinating attractions he never failed to win supporters 
for his cause. He carried on his plans with such singular secrecy 
and celerity, that Cathoir was not aware of their existence, until Con 
was ready to perfect them in the field, with a numerous army of 
natives and mercenaries. The monarch, while dreaming of safety, 
was awoke to the real danger of his situation, by the explosion which 
opened, as it were, a volcanic gulf under his very throne. Cathoir 
was too brave to be intimidated, for he had a soul to which fear 
was a stranger, and he hastened towards his enemy's lines with that 
confidence and courage, which ever sustained the intrepidity of the 
hero. Both armies met at Rathkenni/,* (called then Moigh acha) in 
Meath. On the night preceding the battle that was to decide life and 
empire, Cathoir awoke from a dream, in which the disastrous results 
of the following day were presented to his mind. He summoned his 
secretary, and all his principal officers, among whom were his ten sons, 
to his chamber, and communicated to them the fore-warnings of his 
vision. " To-morrow's sun," said he, " shall beam on my dead body, 
but I shall die like my gallant ancestors resisting the foe, while I 
have strength to stand at the head of my brave army, in whose 
ranks there is not a single coward." After conversing cheerfully 
for some time, he desired all to leave him, except his secretary, 
whom he detained to engross his will. The bequests of this testa- 
ment, as given by O' Flaherty, from the authentic records in the Book 

* Rathkenny is a small vicarage in the County of Meath, and Barony of 
Navan. The Protestant church is a large structure ; but from the paucity of 
Protestants, it is suffered to fall into decay. 1835. 



183 

of Lecan, prove that Cathoir More, or the Great, must have been 
then the wealthiest monarch in Europe. 

<' I, Cathoir, monarch of all Ireland, do hereby publish my will, 
to which, in testimony of its genuineness, I subscribe my name, 
and affix my royal signet : Be it known then to all Brehons, judges 
nnd chieftains of this our kingdom, that after our death, we order 
that our property, possessions, effects, and goods, shall be distributed 
in the following manner : We bequeath to our beloved son, Rosa 
Failge* the kingdom of Leinster, and as a further token of our 
affection, we give with it ten golden shields, ten swords, with golden 
liilts, ten golden cups ; and our sincere wishes that he may preserve 
the glory of our name, and be the father of a numerous and warlike 
posterity to govern Tara. To our second son, Daire Sarach. we 
leave the territory of Tuath Laighean, (the present county of Dublin, 
and part of Wicklow) over which, we hope, he and his posterity will 
reign to the end of time; with this we also bequeath him one hun- 
dred and fifty spears, of the finest fabric and richest embellishment, 
fifty shields of curious workmanship, and golden ornaments; fifty 
of the brightest and richest swords that can be found in the armory, 
fifty rings of the purest gold ; one hundred and fifty embroidered 
mantles, and seven military standards, whose staffs are pure silver. 
To my third son, Breasal, I leave seven large and well equipped 
ships, fifty shields, five swords with gold baskets and green blades, 
and five war chariots with horses and silver-mounted harness. With 
these, we likewise desire, he may have the lands on the banks 
of the river Amergin, and let him be informed, that it has been our 
wish that he will keep the Belgic inhabitants under proper restraint, 
as they are disposed to be refractory. To our fourth son, Cetach, and 
our fifth son, Feargiis-Luascan, we leave possessions that are sufficient 
to sustain their princely dignity. As our sixth son never betrayed 
a martial spirit, or a poetic genius, property would be thrown away 
if given to him ; we therefore only bequeath him a backgammon 
table, for the instruments of gaming are the arms that are suitable 
for a man whose spirit falls so low in ambition. Our seventh son, 
Aongus, is to be fully endowed by his brothers. To Eochaidli Tim- 
Jiin, our eighth son, we shall leave nothing but our blessing, for he 
is a weak man, who was so silly as to give away a tract of land, 

* " Rosa Failge, or the Hero of the Rings, is the great progenitor of the O'Con- 
nors of Faly, or OfFaly, a district of country now comprehending the King's and 
Queen's counties, and the greater parts of Kildare." — Chronicles of Erin. 

" Roger and Arthur O'Connor, with their children, are the only legitimate 
descendants of this sept of the O'Connors now living." — Outlines of Irish History. 
Dublin, 1829. 

" The O'Connors Faly were in all ages a very martial and renowned family, as 
all our annals testify, (both before and after the invasion of Henry H.) until they 
were crushed under the superiority of relentless power in the reign of Philip and 
Mary. John O'Connor, Esq. of Mount Pleasant, (the father of Messrs. Roger and 
Arthur O'Connor) enjoys, at this day, a part of his ancestor's estate." — Disserta- 
tions on the History of Ireland. 

" The hereditary princes of Leinster successively retained the ancient title of 
Failge, in proof of their descent and royal extraction from Rosa, whom they justly 
claim as the greatest ancestor of the family. From Rosa Failge, are descended 
the noble families of the O'Dempsys, O'Dnn's, O'Tools, O'Byrnes, O'Dunluing, 
(Dorolings) O'DufFys, and Mac Cormicks." — Keating. 



184 

claimed as a promise which he made in his sleep. Let our ninth 
son, Criomthan, have fifty brass balls, with brass maces to play with ; 
ten backgammon tables, of curious workmanship, and two chess 
boards. To our tenth son, Fij acha-Baiceadh, we leave the territory 
of Inbher Slainge, (Wexfoid) as an affectionate token of our appro- 
bation of his manly spirit and fearless courage.* As we admire 
our nephew Tuathal for his exalted qualities, we bequeath him ten 
chariots, with war horses richly furnished, five pair of backgammon 
tables, five chess boards with golden men, thirty shields embossed 
with gold, and fifty swords of the most elegant fabric and polish. 
To Mogh Chorb, our chief general, we leave one hundred black and 
white cows, with their calves, coupled two and two, connected with 
brass yokes ; one hundred shields, one hundred steel javelins colour- 
ed red, one hundred burnished battle axes, fifty yellow mantles of 
the finest silk, one hundred war steeds, one hundred gold clasps, one 
hundred silver goblets, one hundred large vats of yew, fifty brazen 
trumpets, fifty chariots and horses, and fifty brass chaldrons, with 
the privilege of being a privy counsellor to the king of Leinster. 
And finally, we leave to our kinsman, the Prince of Leix, one hun- 
dred cows, one hundred shields, one hundred swords, one hundred 
spears, and seven ensigns emblazoned with "the roval arras of 
Ireland."! 

At an early hour on the following morning, Cathoir was in the 
field, animating and disposing his army, for the decisive conflict. 
The first attack was made by the royal household troops, under 
the immediate orders of the monarch, by a furious and impetuous 
charge, on Con's centre, which he withstood with heroic valour, 
and even compelled them to give ground. Both armies, as if by 
mutual consent, paused for a moment, and then rushed on each 
other with renewed impetuosity and rage. 

The conflict became desperate ; it was the fierce combat of Prince 
against Prince, and of soldier against soldier. At length, however, 
after the protracted struggle of six hours, the gallant Cathoir fell on 
the crimson field, and victory rested its bloody pinions on the ban- 
ners of Con. This Prince came to the throne not only recommended 
by victory, but by the popularity of his father, Feidhlimidh, whose 
memory the Irish nation revered. He vk^as crowned at Tara, by the 
Druids, A. D. 153. His reign, which developed the most eminent 
events, forms a peculiar epoch of glory in Irish history. 

Con Ceadcathadh, or of the hundred battles, who was the grand- 
son of the great Tuathal, possessed capabilities for the field, and the 
cabinet, in each of which spheres, during a turbulent reign of twenty 
years, he displayed talents of a superior order. No sooner had he 
been seated on the throne, than he issued orders to the tributary 

* " From Fijacha-Baiceadh (or the lame prince) sprung the great families of 
Mac Murroch, Kavanagh, O'Toole, Murphy, and Kensellagh, who were in succes- 
sion, kings of Leinster." — MoLLOY. 

t " It was on account of his immense riches that this prince is called Cathoir 
More, or the Great; for we do not find that either as a warrior or a statesman he 
evinced those rare abilities, which would entitle him to the surname of the Great. 

" It is, however, to be questioned, if any other monarch in Europe, was ever 
possessed of a more valuable personal estate than this Irish king." — Warner. 



185 

kings and princes of the kingdom, to supply his armj with their 
stipulated quota of troops, and subsidies of money. With this com- 
bined army, the monarch meditated the subjugation of Leinster, 
over which, before he possessed it by conquest, lie appointed his 
late tutor, Criomthan, viceroy. 

As soon as the people of Leinster were apprised of the approach 
of an invading army, they despatched messengers to their hereditary 
general, Cumhal, the sonof Frenmor, and descendant oftlie monarch 
Nuadka, urging liini to hasten to their assistance, and to the protec- 
tion of his relatives, the oppressed children of Cathoir More. The 
gallant Cumhal, who was at this era, A. D. 154, in Britain, with his 
Clana Baoisgne, or Leinster knights, fighting against the Romans, 
immediately on the arrival of the messengers at his camp, set off for 
Ireland. 

When Cumhal reached the head-quarters of the army of Leinster, 
at Naas, in the county of Kildare, he published a manifesto, in which 
he denounced the monarch as an ambitious prince, who sought his 
own aggrandizement, on the ruin of the persecuted children of his 
predecessor, Cathoir More. The G(»vernor, and troops of Con, were 
speedily drove out of Leinster, by Cumhal, at the head of the com- 
bined forces of that province, as well as the auxihary troops which 
Eogan,* king of Munster, sent into the iield to check the ambitious 
projects of Con. 

Wiien Con learned that his viceroy and army were expelled from 
Leinster, he despatched heralds to Naas, requiring the immediate 
attendance of Eogan and Cuml)al, with their vassals at Tara. But 
instead of evincing any indication of submission, they replied to the 
heralds by bidding dehance to the requisition of the monarch, which 
provoked his indignation. A declaration of war against Leinster 
and Munster, was the immediate result. Eogan and Cumhal made 
great preparations to carry on the contest, and as soon as they mus- 
tered all the forces they could collect, they commenced their march 
towards Tara, avowing their determination of dethroning Con, and 
placing the crown on the head of the heir of Cathoir More. The 
entire population almost appeared in arms on either side, and the 
approaching hostilities threatened to be fierce and terrible in the 
extreme. Both armies, eager for the fight, marched to the King's 
county, where, as if by mutual agreement, they selected the plains 
of Lena, as the scene of one of the most destructive and desperately 
contested conflicts that was ever fought in Ireland. 

" The generals on each side," says Dr. O'Halloran, " remark the 
dispositions of the enemy's troops; and each chief is allotted his 
ground, and the troops he is to attack. We are surprised with what 
minuteness this is detailed ; but particularly in the battle of Lena, 
where every commander is assigned his particular service : a proof 
that in ancient times neither generalship, nor military abilities were 
neglected." At the battle of Lena, courage and chivalry shone in 
their brightest lustre. 

* " This prince, it must be observed, vpas known by four different names: he 
was called Eogan Fidhfkeathach, Eoga,n More, Eogan Faitklioch; and Modka 
JVuaffat." — Keating. 

24 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Battle of Lena. — Victory of Con. — Eogan, king of Munster, flies to Spain, marries 
a Spanish princess, invades Ireland, and defeats Jlongus, king of South Munster. 
— Death of Jlongus in battle. — Eogan defeats Con in three battles. — Division of 
Ireland between the rivals. — Jl new war. — Death of Eogan. — Invasion of Ulster, 
and death of Con. 

As soon as the Lark was roused by the radiance of the morning 
sun, both armies were under arms and ready to commence the work 
of havoc and death. 

The troops of Con, commanded by the Connaught champion, 
Gaul Mac Morni, heroically began the attack with their accustomed 
impetuosity. They bore down all before them, until Cumhal, with 
the Leinster knights, hastened to the centre of destruction, and 
formed, as it were, a wall of brass to stop the progress of Gaul. 
The two chieftains, Cumhal and Gaul, engaged each other sword in 
hand, while the knights of Connaught and Leinster emulated their 
valour, and joined in a most terrible combat. The fight continued 
for a long time with unabated courage and unflinching valour, when 
at last Cumhal fell under the sword of Gaul. His death spread 
panic and dismay among the Leinster troops,^ who, thinking all lost, 
began to fly away in the utmost disorder. It was in vain for Eogan, 
the king of Munster, to think of rallying them, for consternation 
deprived them at once of gallantry and discipline. The defeat they 
suffered was complete and decisive. Con pursued the fugitives to 
the borders of the county of Cork. Eogan, to evade the vengeance 
of his implacable enemy. Con, fled to Spain, leaving his territories 
in the hands of the conquerer. Eogan was received at the court of 
Spain with the greatest friendship and hospitality. During his exile 
there he succeeded in gaining the aftections of the Spanish princess, 
Beara, whom he married. This alliance inspired himself, as well 
as his adherents in Ireland, with the hope of recovering his throne. 
After a short exile in Spain, he persuaded his father-in-law to fit out 
an expedition for him for the invasion of Ireland. He arrived at 
Waterford, after a short voyage, where a numerous body of friends 
and followers were in readiness to give him welcome and second his 
measures, and promote his designs, among whom, there was a Druid 
of the most exalted quality. No sooner had he concentrated his 
forces, than he marched towards Cashel, with the intention of aveng- 
ing the aggressions which Aongus, king of South Munster, com- 
mitted on his territories. 

He attacked the South Munster array, under Aongus, in their 
entrenched camp at Feathard, in the county of Tipperary, and after 
an obstinate engagement, gained a complete victory over them. He 
drove Aongus before him, in the utmost confusion, to the county of 
Wicklow, where anotlier battle took place, in which the South 
Munster army were totally routed, and their chief general, Lugha, 
killed. Aongus seeing his utter inability to oppose the triumphant 
progress of Eogan, fled to Tara to supplicate the aid of the supreme 
monarch. 



187 

Con, dreading the bravery, genius, and ambition of Eogan, listened 
with complaisance to Aongus's solicitations, and speedily raised for 
him an army of fifteen thousand men. With this reinforcement, 
and the remnant of his own shattered troops, Aongus returned to 
Munster. 

As soon as Eogan learned that his enemy had augmented his 
army to such a formidable force, he retreated to Ibh Lcathan, in the 
county of Cork, where he resolved to make a stand, and give battle 
to his pursuers. In this strong position Aongus atlacked him ; but 
the consequence was the signal defeat of the allied army, and the 
death of Aongus, and his principal officers. This victory not only 
strengthened the power and popularity of Eogan, but elevated his 
ambition to the determination of possessing the monarchy of Ireland. 
Eogan was certainly a prince of genius and valour, but Con was 
fully his equal in these attributes; so that the former knew, that in 
his way to the crown he had to contend against difficulties of the 
most fearful character. 

Before he commenced the desperate game on which life and 
empire were depending, he sent his ambassadors, Druids, to all his 
allies, to sound their dispositions, and to ascertain whether they 
would join him in a war against the supreme monarch. 

The cunning Druids, by the aid of superstition and artifice, were 
eminently successful in their embassies. The kings of Ulster and 
Leinster quickly despatched their disposable troops to the head 
quarters of Eogan. This accession, when combined with his own 
forces, swelled up his army to fifty-two thousand men. At the head 
of this formidable army, Eogan marched to Bray, in the county of 
Wicklow, where he was met by Con. A battle was the immediate 
result of the approximate encampment of both armies. In this, as 
well as in three successive engagements, Con was defeated, and 
compelled to fly in disorder before his pursuers to Cruachan, in the 
county of Roscommon, On arriving here, he was joined by Gaul 
Mac Morni, and the knights of Connaught. The victor in his pur- 
suit, stopped one night at the palace of Tara, and then continued 
his march until he approached within a few miles of Con's camp. 
Selecting a favourable position he formed his encampment, and then, 
by the advice of a council of war, sent heralds to Con, demanding 
the surrender of the Irish crown. This demand fired the monarch 
with indignation, but by the advice of his privy council, he sup- 
pressed his resentment in the presence of the heralds, and signified 
to them his willingness to open negotiations with Eogan. As a first 
step towards peace, an armistice was soon concluded between the 
belligerents. After much altercation and dispute between the 
plenipotentiaries of both princes, a definitive treaty of peace was 
finally ratified. 

By the stipulations of this famous treaty, Eogan was to possess 
and reign over the southern portion of Ireland, which was to be 
called '■'■ Leath Mngha" or Eogan's share. The other portion of the 
kingdom, comprehending the country from Wicklow to Galway, 
fell to the share of Con, and was denominated " Leath Con,'''' or 
Con's half. The boundaries of this renowned division, were marked 



188 

by deep trenches wliich were cut, and by the erection of redoubts 
that were raised at several points. It was imperious necessity 
alone that compelled Con to sign a treaty which he considered igno- 
minious and humiliating in the extreme, so that he was determined 
to violate its conditions as soon as he might find himself able to do 
so with impunity. A few months only elapsed after tlie ratification 
of peace, when he sent ambassadors to Leinster, to enforce the 
payment of the Boroihme tribute, which his grandfather, Tuathal, 
imposed on the people of Leinster. The requisition of the ambas- 
sadors was treated with contempt by the Leinsterians, which so 
exasperated Con, that he sent an army to enable his tax gatherers 
to exact the tribute. The people of Leinster, indignant at this ag- 
gressive act, rose in arms, attacked the forces of the monarch at 
Maistean, where, after a sanguinary battle, they gained a decisive 
victory over them. The Leinsterians flushed with victory, followed 
up their success to the very palace of Tara, from which, Con, with 
his whole court, was obliged to take flight to Connaught. 

The conquerors took possession of the palace, where they seized 
upon all the treasures of the monarch. Con, mortally afflicted, and 
chagrined at this disaster, employed himself for two yeais in recruit- 
ing his army, in order to make a desperate effort for the recovery of 
his palace from the enemy. The Leinsterians, on the other side, 
were not idle; they were augmenting their forces and securing their 
positions by fortifications. At this era, A. D. 181, an event occurred 
that still farther increased the power and stimulated the pretensions 
of the people of Leinster. Eogan, in the course of a royal tour, 
visited Dublin, which was then called '^ Atha Cliath-Dubhline," or 
the passage over the ford of the black pool.* On making a survey 
of the city, he discovered that there were far more trading vessels on 
the North, than on the South side of the LifFey, wliich displeased 
him very much, as by the terms of the treaty with Con, the duties 
and customs arising from all vessels anchoring in the south of the 
river, were to appertain to him, while those in the north belonged to 
Con. Consequently, by the distribution of the shipping then, 
Eogan's revenue was not near equal to that of the monarch. 

* During Eogan's sojourn in Dublin, at this time, his daughter Duhlana was 
drowned, whilst bathing in the LifFey, fiom which circumstance, the place was 
called Dublana, in commemoration of the fatal catastrophe of the Princess. 

" Prior to Eogan's visit, our annalists make mention of Dublin, under the name 
of Jlschhled, Lean Cliaih, from Lean, which signifies a harbour, and CHat/t. whicli 
is the Irish appellation for hurdle, or wicker work. The ancient Irish made hur- 
dles, which they placed in rivers and bays for catching fish. Many of these were 
thrown across the ford of the LifFey, hence the city of Dublin was called Balbj atk 
Cliatk, or the town of the ford of hurdles. The river LifFey bore anciently the 
name of ^^uin Louiffa, or the svvift-rolling-water." — Jliicient TopogTap/iy of Dublin. 

" The town of hurdles, on its Duhh-Yme. or black ford, with its huts of twigs, and 
humble and unsparing architecture, attracted the special protection of Heaven, at 
a very early period of its existence ; " for, says Jocelyn. in his life of the patron 
and chief of all Irish saints, '■' St. Patrick, departing from the borders of Meath, 
and directing his steps towards Leinster, passed tlie river Finglas, came to a cer- 
tain hill, almost a mile distant from .rJih Ciinth, ' the place of the ford,' now called 
Dublin, and casting his eyes about the place and the land circumjacent, he broke 
forth into this prophecy: — This small village (Dublin) shall hereafter become an 
eminent city: — it shall increase in riches, and in dignity, until at length it shall be 
lifted up into the throne of the kingdom." — Old Dublin, hij Lady Morgan. 



189 

Against this breach of treaty, Eogan transmitted a manifesto to 
Taia, chiiming instant reparation from Con. 

" This relation of the trade of Dublin," says Dr. O'Hailoran, "will 
be less doubted, when we recollect t!ie evidence of Tacitus, about a 
century earlier; and to these we shall add, that in the days of St. 
Patrick we find it celebrated, foj' its extent and magnificence, the 
number and riches of its inhabitants, the grandeur of its edifices, and 
the greatness of its commerce.'''' 

The extravagant requisitions made by the ambassadors of Eogan, 
at the court of Tara, irritated the monarch, and produced in liis 
mind a conviction that Eogan evidently aspired to the monarchy of 
Ireland. A fresh war, therefore, became inevitable. When the 
ambassadors of Eogan returned and announced the unsuccessful 
termination of their mission, the ambitious king, caused war to be 
declared against Con. The hostile sovereigns made the most for- 
midable preparations for a struggle, on the result of which, the fate 
of Ireland was suspended. Eogan put his troops in motion, and 
they had already advanced near the scene of the late battle of Lena, 
in the King's county, when the outposts of Con's army gave them 
assurance that their enemy was at hand. Con reviewed his troops 
on that plain where such glory had, a hw years before, crowned his 
arms. Here he harangued his army, reminded them of their bravery 
in the first battle of Lena, and inspired them with the hope of 
gaining by their valour in the approaching contest a new triumph, 
which should immortalize their courage and gallantly. In a council 
of war held by Con, the evening prior to the battle, he informed his 
principal officers, that he intended to surprise Eogan, whose native 
and Spanish forces were superior in numerical strength to his o«'n, 
at midnight. To this plan all the chiefs readily assented, except 
the chivalric Gaul, the second in command, under the monarch, 
who, rising up at the council board, said — "Sire, on the day that 
my first arms were put into my hands, I solemnly vowed, at the altar 
of Bel, and in the presence of his Druidical ministers, never to at- 
tack an enemy at night by surprise, or imder any kind of disadvan- 
tage whatever. I trust that the vows I have thus pledged shall never 
be broken. To this day I have religiously adhered, as an Irish 
knight ought, to this promise; nor shall I now, Sire, break it; for 
my honour is dearer to me than my life." This romantic devotion 
to the laws of chivalry, the monarch praised for its magnanimity, 
although he thought that a general intrusted with the command of a 
whole army might be warranted by prudence to disobey its injunc- 
tions, on certain occasions. Con, however, finding that Gaul conid 
not be prevailed upon, to assist in his project, resolved to assault 
the enemy's camp, without him or his knights, at midnight. He did 
so. Notwithstanding that the Munsfrer troops were attacked by 
surprise, in the middle of the night, the)^ yet fought with a valour 
and a courage that made Con repent of his rashness; the morning 
light presented to him, his army in a broken and shattered state, and 
were it not that Gaul came to his assistance, when it was clear day, 
Con and his troops would have been annihilated. Eogan, in repel- 
ling the assault, cut all before him, he moved like the living demon 
of fire, if such there be, through the hostile ranks, but at length the 



190 

mighty Gaul stood before him, sword in hand. " Now, said he," 
Eog'an, " we meet in a fair field, let our swords decide which of us 
is the barest. " They fought desperately for an hour, when it was 
the fate of the gallant Eogan to fall mortally wounded. The con- 
tending armies suspended their hostilities during this heroic combat, 
between the renowned champions. The body guards of Eogan, 
raised up his corpse, pierced with innumerable wounds, on their 
shields, to the view of both armies. As soon as Gaul wiped away 
the tears which he shed for the death of his brave adversary, he ex- 
claimed — "lay down the body of the heroic king of Munster, for he 
died as the noble and the valiant prince should die ! Future Bards 
will tune a thousand harps in the celebration of his glory." The 
fall of Eogan dismayed and disheartened the Munster forces so that 
Con gained a signal victory. 

Con's enemies were so appalled by his late success that they fled 
to hiding places in different parts of the country. At the death of 
Eogan, his eldest son, Olioll, was too young to be raised to the throne 
of Munster; consequently, MacNiad, whoso powerfully co-operated 
with Eogan, in recovering his kingdom, was appointed regent during 
the minority of the young prince. As soon as the regent was in- 
vested with plenary powers, the people of Munster with a united 
voice called upon him to lead them once more against Con, whom 
they denounced as a tyrant. Con, who was as wise as he was gal- 
lant, resolved to avert, if possible, another war, for which he was 
not prepared. He therefore sent ambassadors to the regent of Mun- 
ster to congratulate him on his accession to his new office and dig- 
nity, and to express the wishes of the monarch that peace and amity 
should subsist between the courts of Tara and Munster. 

The ambassadors, in order to win over Mac Niad to their propo- 
sitions, had secret instructions to offer him the monarch's youngest 
daughter, the beauteous Sadhbha, in marriage. The ambassadors 
effected their purpose, and their negociations closed by a definitive 
treaty of peace, whose terms were highly advantageous to Munster. 

As soon as it was ratified, Mac Niad repaired to Tara, where his 
and the princess's nuptials were solemnized with great pomp and 
magnificence. 

The ambitious Con, who had long looked with a jealous and 
envious eye on Ulster, whose king was ever foremost among his 
enemies, resolved now, when he had nothing to dread from Munster, 
to invade that country, and make its people feel the inflictions of his 
vengeance. 

He accordingly raised a great army, and marched towards that 
country. When the Ultonians heard of his approach, they flew to 
arms, and advanced to meet him. Con never encountered men that 
opposed such a fierce resistance to his invasion as the Ultonians. 
They vanquished him in several battles, and ultimately totally de- 
feated his whole army, and slew himself at an engagement near 
Dungannon,* in the county of Tyrone. There is, we must observe, 

* Of Dungannon, a pretty and prosperous town, in the County of Tyrone, 
situated about eleven Irish miles North of Armagh, and 72 N. W. from Dublin, 
we will give a description when we bring this history down to the fifth age of the 
christian era. 



191 

a material discrepancy in the accounts of our annalists of the death 
of Con. The book called the ^'Annals ofthefotir Blasters" says he 
was slain at the battle of Tuath Aimhrios, in the county of Tyrone, 
while Keating and O'Flaherty assert " that he was assassinated in 
his bed at Tara." "But this last death," says O'Halloran, "is so 
inconsistent with the spirit of heroism, of those days, that I cannot 
by any means give it credence." His reign of thirty years, distract- 
ed Ireland with all the miseries of war and oppression. Con had a 
mixture of vices and virtues in his composition ; and perhaps that 
the latter would have shone with a brilliancy, in which the former 
would have been lost, if ambition did not "congeal the genial cur- 
rent of his soul." His whole life was engrossed in the cares of war, 
so that he had no opportunity of conferring the benefits of peace on 
the nation. 

Few of our princes excelled him in intrepidity and the greatness 
of true heroism. Con, of the hundred battles, has been the popular 
and inspiring theme on which Irish poetry and eloquence have 
lavished all their genius. His very name had a talismanic effect, 
which existed in the potency of its charm, until the days of Queen 
Elizabeth, in inspiring the valour and patriotism of the Irish. 

"Remember," said the gallant Phelim O'Neil, to his soldiers, as 
lie led them against his English foes, "that the spirit of Con of the 
hundred battles, is watching our conduct to-day. His blood is in 
our veins, let us show the world that his courage is, also, in our 
hearts !" 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



Conaire, the son of Mogha-Lamha, is elected monarch by the national estates. — His 
three sons are exalted to principalities. — O'.ioU, king of Munster, demands the 
Leinster tribute. — Events of Conaire' s reign, and his death. — Art, the son of Con 

of the hundred battles, elected monarch. — His death at the battle of Muicrumhe. 

Scotland colonized by -prince Carbre Riada. 

On the death of the monarch Con, as related in the last chapter, 
the national representatives assembled at Tara to elect a successor 
to the throne. After the usual contest, Conaire, the son of Mogha- 
Lamha, the lineal descendant of Conaire the Great, of the Degaids 
of Munster, and royal dynasty of Heremon, was declared monarch 
of Ireland by a majority of suffrages. On the day of his coronation 
he espoused Seraid, the second daughter of Con, a great and advan- 
tageous alliance that secured many friends to his party. The first 
years of his reign were devoted to the internal improvement of the 
kingdom, and to the reformation of the laws, as well as to other 
necessary regulations in the state. At this epoch, A. D. 192, like 



192 

several of their generatorial ancestors, the Britons solicited the aid 
of the Irish monarch against the Emperor Severus, whose legions 
were overrunning their country. Conaire, who was ambitif)us and 
passionately emulous of military glory, resolved to raise an adequate 
force, and march against the Romans in person. The most active 
preparations were set on foot, every provincial prince was called 
upon for his quota of troops for the expedition to Britain. 

Prior to the king's departure, however, he summoned the national 
convention, for the purpose of suggesting to them his plan of pro- 
viding for the succession of his own family, and the exclusion of the 
Heberians from the throne. He had now three sons almost grown 
up to manhood, — youths of genius and courage, to each of whom he 
assigned principalities ; the first, called Carhre J/</se, was invested 
with the sovereignty of Muskerry, in the county of Cork ; — the 
second, whose name was Carhre JJaisean, was appointed over tiie 
territory of Corca Bhascin, in the county of Clare, and the third, 
Carhre Riada, hnd, for his dominion,- all the lands lying around 
Ijoch-Lene, in the county of Kerry. About this period, Tiobradh, 
king of Ulster, died. As soon as the monarch heard of the event, 
he resorted to every species of intrigue to raise a branch of his own 
family to the vacant throne. His policy and address accomplished 
his plan ; for Fiatach, a Heremonian prince, was called to the throne 
of Ulster. Conaire having now nothing to dread from internal re- 
volt, as the kings of Munster and Ulster were his relatives, and 
devoted vassals, gave orders to his troops to march to the point of 
embarkation for Britain. But in his progress to the coast he was 
basely assassinated by Neimhidh, a prince of his own blood, who 
was led to the commission of the atrocious deed by a criminal pas- 
sion which he had for many years cherished for Seraid, the Queen. 
At this juncture, Olioll, son of the great Eogan, was crowned king 
of Munster, and to him the three sons of Conaire applied for assist- 
ance to punish the murderer of their father. 

The regicide became an object of the vengeance of national in- 
dignation. The three sons of Conaire, as well as Olioll, who had 
been just called to the throne of Munster, on the death of the 
Regent, Mac Niad, pursued Neimhidh into Leinster, where, at the 
battle of Clnnefchha, his forces were destroyed, and himself slain, 
A. D. 192. At this engagement, Mac Con, the son of Mac Niad, by 
the daughter of Con of the hundred battles, fought against the Car- 
bres, and Olioll, who had lately married his mother. The national 
estates were again convened to elect a new monarch in the room of 
Conaire. The sons of the late monarch, as well as Olioll, king of 
Munster, and Fiatach, king of Ulster, unanimously agreed to favour 
the pretensions of Art, the son of Con, to tlie suprenie sovereignty. 
By a private treaty of compact between these allied sovereigns, it 
was covenanted that the youngest son of Conaire, called Carhre 
Riada, should reign in Albania, (Scotland) and also receive a cession 
of territory in Ulster, through which he might receive supplies of 
men and arms to maintain his power in that country. The portion 
of Ulster, thus ceded, comprehending the county of Antrim, and 
part of Down, is called to this day, '^ Dal Riada," or the route of 



193 

Prince Riada.* As soon as this treaty was ratified, Olioll publisiied 
a decree declaring his step-son, Lughdheach, or Mac Con, a rebel 
and a traitor, and commanding him, on pain of death, to abandon 
tlie territory of Munster. Meanwhile, Art was elected monarch of 
Ireland. Mac Con, who was his nephew, fled to Tara, to seek pro- 
tection from the monarch ; but his reception by Art, who was under 
many deep obligations of gratitude to his brother-in-law, Olioll, was 
cool and mortifying. 

Provoked at this treatment, received at the hands of his uncle, 
Mac Con, and Lugha-Leagha, the rebel brother of Olioll, fled to 
Scotland, in the hopes of finding an asylum at the court of Carbre 
Riada. But no sooner did they reach the Albanian shore, than they 
received orders to quit the country without delay. They then di- 
rected their steps to South Britain, where they met with better success. 
The king of Wales, pitying their deplorable distress, resolved not 
only to afford them a place of refuge, but to supply them with forces 
to invade Ireland. Mac Con, assured of the friendship of the Welsh 
king, passed over to Gaul, where he had patrimonial possessions. 
Here, by his address and specious representations, he succeeded in 
raising a considerable force, with which he returned to Wales. On 
his arrival, he saw around his standard, an army whose number and 
disposition filled him with the most sanguine hope of achieving the 
conquest of Ireland. The Welsh king, to evince how hearty he was 
in the cause, sent his son, Beine Breat, with Mac Con, to Ireland. 

This expedition landed in the port of Galway, where Mac Con 
entrenched his army. Here a council of war was held, at which, it 
was resolved to send ambassadors to Art to insist on the cession of 
Leath-Mogha, or the southern half of Ireland. The personages 
sent on this embassy were Lugha-Leagha, the brother of Olioll, and 
his preceptor, Nuadh, the Druid. Their instructions were, that if 
the monarch refused to conform to their demands, to declare war 
immediately against him. When they arrived at Tara, they made 
known to Art the purpose of their mission. The monarch, enraged 
at the audacity of their requisitions, boldly told them, " that he 
would never consent to their proposals ; that he was unworthy a 
crown who declined fighting for it, — that it was through rivers of 
blood his father waded to the sovereignty ; — and that he would meet 
Mac Con, with his foreign mercenaries, in the field of war, where 
the sword would be the arbitrator of their disputes." 

When the ambassadors heard this declaration, they requested of 
the monarch to name the time and place of battle. Art said, that 
as Mac Con had stolen into his kingdom, at the head of foreigners, 
without giving him the slightest notice, he, therefore, considered 
that he should be allowed a year for organizing his army, and 

* Though since the days of Heremon, Albania, or Scotland, was partially sub- 
ject to Ireland, still it was Carbre Riada, who first became a kind of an indepen- 
dent monarch in the country. — Chronicle of Eri. 

" The country became a complete Irish colony, and Carbre Riada, a very enter- 
prising Prince of the Deaghadh of Munster, and son of Conary II. the monarch of 
Ireland. This establishment of Scots (Irish) in North Britain, took the name of 
Dal-Riada from prince Eochaidh Riada (the great progenitor of the Mac-Keoghs) 
the founder of it." — Disser. on Irish History. 

25 



194 

making the necessary preparations for a conflict that should decid© 
the fate of Ireland. But to the required prolongation of the time of 
battle, the ambassadors resolutely refused assent. They alleged 
that the forces of Mac Con were only enlisted for a certain period, 
and that its expiration was nearly at hand ; consequently, the battle 
must take place immediately. Art, finding that he could not procure 
a delay, agreed to try his power with Mac Con, on the plains of 
3Iuigh Cruimhe,* in the space of fourteen days. With this answer 
the ambassadors returned to the camp of Mac Con. Art, in order 
to profit as much as possible by the short period that intervened the 
approaching battle, despatched envoys to the provincial kings, to 
solicit their contingents of troops. The king of Munster sent a large 
force, commanded by his nineteen sons, to the army of the monarch. 
The king of Connaught, with the Clana-Morni, likewise joined him. 
To multiply his hosts still farther, Art proceeded himself to Killeen, 
in Leinster,t the seat of tlie famous Fion Mac Cumhal, (the Fingal 
of Macpherson) to solicit his aid, and that of his brave Irish militia, 
in the coming conflict. Fion, aware of the approach of the monarch, 
and the purpose of his visit, retired in the night, with the Leinster 
knights, from his residence. When Art reached Fion's palace, he 
asked his chief judge (Reachtaire) where the chief was 1 The judge 
told the king, in reply, that the champion had entered into a stipu- 
lation not to combat against Mac Con. 

This answer irritated and disappointed Art, as he had reason to 
calculate on the gratitude of the general, and expect the most signal 
services from his valour, and the courage of his army. After pro- 
nouncing a bitter imprecation on Fion, and reprobating his ingrati- 
tude, the monarch loudly exclaimed — " His military fame is dis- 
graced by this base desertion from me, who was his best friend, — 
who was ever ready to comply with all his requests. I allowed his 
militia, cattle, clothes, and the privilege of quartering on my people, 
from November to May. To the hero himself, I gave money ; — and 
at the last assembly at Tailtean, I presented to him fifty broad 
shining swords, fifty golden shields, and fifty polished spears. But 
I shall be revenged." He then returned to Tara, brooding resent- 
ment in his mind against Fion. He speedily marshalled his forces, 
with which he marched to the field appointed for the battle. 

Mac Dairy's description of the battle of 3Iuigh Cmimhe, in one of 

* We cannot learn from either Keating, O'FIaherty, O'Halloran, or McDermott, 
in what part of Ireland Muigli Cruinihe is situated. We think, however, it must 
be either in the county of Roscommon, or Leitrim. — P. 

t This place, which is now, as it has been, the residence of the Earl of Fingall's 
noble family, since the reign of Richard I. was the real Sclma of the heroic father 
of our Ossian. Fingal commanded the knights of Leinster, and the best proof of 
his valour and power is the condescension of the monarch of Ireland, in paying 
him a visit for the purpose narrated in the text. Let it be remembered, that Mac- 
pherson, in order to give an air of truth to the fictions of his own visionary brain, 
makes Fion Mac Cumhal, a cotemporary of Cuchullin, although that hero died 
nearly three centuries before the era of which we are writing. But as we are now 
approaching the age of Ossian, we shall, when we bring our history down to it, 
devote an entire chapter to the biography of our ancient Bard, and to the refuta- 
tion of Macpherson's pretensions to the son of Fion Mac Cumhal.- — P. 

" This is the hero so much celebrated in the poems of Macpherson, corruptly 
called Fingall, and falsely said there to be a Caledonian chief." — Warner. 



195 

Ills epic poems, displays great powers of genius. He says of Art — 
" Yonder he sweeps over tlie plain, like the thunderbolt that tumbles 
down the rocks into the foaming main. . How majestic is the step 
of the kingly hero, — how worthy of his great sire, the hero of the 
hundred battles ! Look how the brightness of his sword contends 
with the sun-beam in refulgence — how the gleaming of his spear 
illuminates the sides of the mountain ! 

This hero of Tara is like the irresistible wave in his enmity ; — he 
is as quick as lightning in defence, terrible in battle ; the support of 
mighty armies — the hand of liberality, — the all-protecting, and the 
performer of most mighty deeds. 

Contending armies behold with dismay and admiration his war- 
rior-like anger; dreadful to their ears is his powerful voice, as he 
calls his valiant soldiers to the point where danger and death stalk 
through the conflict. His foes shrink before him as the ripe harvest 
bends before the storm, they fall to rise no more." 

Olioll is also represented performing the most gigantic feats of 
heroism in this memorable engagement, which was fought, A. D. 
223. Perhaps among all the battles which we have narrated, in the 
course of this history, that we may estimate this the most san- 
guinary and destructive that had been fought since the reign of 
Heremon. 

The rank and number of the slain demonstrate how desperately 
and vindictively it was contested. Art, the monarch, after perform- 
ing the most glorious exploits, at length fell by the hand of Lugha- 
Leagha. Eogan, the crown prince of Munster, and six of his legiti- 
mate brothers, with the king of Connaught and two of his sons, were 
among the slain, so that Mac Con purchased the victory dearly.* 
" History," says O'Halloran, " scarcely furnishes a more unnatural 
war than the one between Art and his nephew, Mac Con. The 
latter dethroning his uncle, and fighting against his step-father, 
Olioll, as well as his brothers. Lugha quitting the party of his 
brother, Olioll, to fight for his nephew ; and to add to the disgrace 
of these times, the brothers of Con killing their two nephews." 

While these lamentable events were passing in Ireland, Carbre 
Riada,f was employed in strengthening his power in Caledonia, and 
in combating with the Roman legions. 

* " Seven of the nine legitimate sons of Olioll, were unfortunately killed in the 
battle of Muchruirao, as the king of Munster has confirmed in a poem composed 
by himself. — ' The tender father for his sons laments ; — Seven princes, the only 
hopes of my old age, fell in one day. — Eogan, Dumberchon, Modehorb, Lug- 
haidh, Eochaidh, and Diothorda.' " — Keating. 

t " By force or friendship, the Irish prince procured settlements for himself and 
his followers in Scotland. From this leader, whose name was Riada, the posterity 
of these settlers are to this day called Dal Reudimh, or the Irish occupiers of the 
■part." — Bede. 

" It is true, that before this time, the Albanian Picts were, for centuries, tributary 
to the crown of Ireland, yet it remained for Carbre to form the first regular settle- 
ment in Scotland." — Mac Geoghegan's Hist. d'Irlande. 

" This Prince reduced all Scotland under his dominion." — Usher's Primord. 

" How can the Caledonians, in the face of the authorities of Bede and Fordun, 
have the egregious folly to deny their Irish origin." — 0' Kennedy' s Chronology.—' 
Edinburgh, 1778. 



196 

The disaster of the battle of Muigh Cruimhe, and the death of his 
seven beloved sons, rendered OUoll, king of Munster, inconsolable'. 
The agony of his affliction became too acute to be borne with forti- 
tude or resignation. He mourned his eldest son, Eogan, with con- 
stant tears, and piteous wailings. The weight of his wo, and the 
pain of his affliction soon depressed his spirits and destroyed his 
health. Finding his infirmities and sorrows rapidly bearing him 
into the whirlpool of death, he made his will, by which he bequeath- 
ed to his son, Cormac-Cas, or the beloved, the crown of Munster 
during his lif-j, as well as his sword, shield, spear, and suit of ar- 
mour. " These," said he, "I leave him as a token of my affection, 
and a proof of the estimate I set on his courage and bravery." 
This will stipulated, that after the death of Cormac, the crown 
should devolve on Eogan, the infant son of the crown prince, 
Eogan-Olioll, who fell in the late battle. It further ordained that 
the sovereignty should for ever continue in alternate succession be- 
tween the issue of Cormac and his nephew Eogan Fiachadh. After 
he had signed this testament, he called his son and grand-son to his 
bed-side, when he bestowed upon them his benediction, and then 
conjured them, in the most earnest manner, to observe religiously, 
the commands of his will, which he told them, would make them the 
delight of their friends, and the terror of their enemies. Soon after 
delivering this injunction, he breathed his last. 

From Cormac Cas and Eogan Fiachadh were descended some of 
the noblest families that shine in the Irish annals, — names that fling 
a radiance of exalted virtue and martial renown on the page which 
they adorn. 

The posterity of Olioll-Olum,* transmitted through these two 
princes, was designated by the Irish historian, the clan Eoganachts, 
and clan Cassians. From Eogan are descended the following 
Septs : — The Mac Carthies,t O'Connells, Callaghans, O'Sullivans, 
O'Keefs, O'Donohoes, O'Mahonies, O'Donovans, Mac Auliffe, O'- 
Shee, O'Line, Mac Gilcuddy, O'Garas, &c. &.c. 

The posterity of Cormac Cas, are : — The O'Briens, Mac Namaras, 

* " The reason he got the epithet of Olum is this ; — being of a very amorous 
disposition, he once attempted violence on a young lady, named Mtkne; but she, 
enraged at his insolence, in her struggles, bit off a piece of his ear." — O'- 
Hai.loran. 

t The Mac Carthies, called by way of eminent distinction, Mac Carthy More, 
or the Great, were, for many ages, kings of Desmond, a principality comprehend- 
ing the counties of Cork and Kerry. The English followers of king John de- 
prived them of a large portion of their patrimonial possessions. A branch of this 
illustrious family were created by Ricliard I. Earl of Clancarthy,a title which they 
held until the reign of William III., when, like many other noble Irish families, 
they became the victims of confiscation and forfeiture. The Trench family pos- 
sesses now this peerage. — P. 

" Of the race of Eogan More, the Mac Carthies were the first, and the greatest, 
the oldest Milesian family in Ireland, and one of the most celebrated. Out of the 
wrecks of time and fortune, Donogh, the late Earl of C]ancarth3^ had reserved in 
his family an estate of ton or twelve thousand pounds a year; a fair possession of 
more than two thousand 3-ears standing; the oldest, perhaps, in the world; but 
forfeited for his loyalty and devotion to the Stuart family." — O'Connor. 

" Patrick Mac Carthy, Earl of Clancarthy, sat in king James's parliament, in 
1689, for which he was attainted." — Taaffe. 



197 

Mac Mahons, Kennedies, Mac Clanchies, Mac Cochlins, O'Hiffer- 
nans, O'CarrolIs, Princes of Ely and Louth ; O'Riardans, O'FIana- 
gans, O'Haras, OTogertys, O'Maras, O'Machair, O'Caseys, O'- 
Flynns, ^c. &c. 

"By the terms of this will," observes O'Halloran, "when the 
crown of Leath-Mogha came to the issue of Eogan, the other family 
were kings of North Munster only ; and when these last succeeded, 
the other family were kings only of South Munster, Leath-Mogha, 
including the command of the entire province." 



CHAPTER XXVIL 



The accession of Mac Con to the throne of Ireland, and of Cormac-Cas to that of 
Munster. — The exploits of Cormac in Britain and Ireland. — Death of Cormac- 
Cas. — Cormac Mac Art foTnents an insurrection against Mac Con. — Its conse- 
quences. — Mac Con assassinated. — Accession of Feargus to the Irish throne. — His 
death. — Cormac ascends the throne. 

The late decisive victory opened the way for Mac Con to the 
Irish throne, of which he took possession without further molesta- 
tion. At his inauguration he assumed the name of Lughaidh III. 
Our annals say but little of his exploits after his accession, or of the 
events that occurred in the course of his reign. Dr. O'Halloran 
mentions, indeed, that it is recorded in the book of the Lecan, of his 
having effected extensive conquests in Britain and Gaul. This 
monarch was descended from Ith, the nephew of Milesius, and first 
cousin to Heber and Hereraon, the first Milesian kings of the island. 
It is extremely probable that he possessed some territory in Scot' 
land, as some of the noblest families there, such as the Campbells, 
Allans, and others equally ancient, derive their origin from this Mac 
Con, who was the third Irish sovereign of the dynasty of Ith. The 
O'Driscols, O'Learys, O'Kellys, O'Bernes, O'Breogans, and Mac 
Flanchys, very old and respectable Irish Septs, claim the honour of 
being the posterity of Lughaidh. 

In virtue of his father's will, Cormac succeeded to the throne of 
Munster, where he soon displayed the capacity of the legislative 
king, and the consummate ability of the skilful general. His soldiers 
were the best disciplined and armed body of men in Ireland, over 
whom he appointed his son-in-law,* the famous Fingal, commander 

* Dr. O'Halloran, through error, stated in his history, that Cormac married 
" Samhair, daughter to the celebrated general Fion, the son of Cumhal." Mr O'- 
Halloran's assertion cannot be sustained by any authority against the united testi- 
mony of O'FIaherty, Keating, McDermolt and Warner, and though last, not 
least, the Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Dublin, wliere one of the learned 
writers says, in speaking of Fion Mac Cumhal, " he was the son of Cumhal," and 
styled by us, his countrymen — " Finn, the renowned general in chief of the Irish 
Militia. His mother, Murin, daughter of Thady, the son of JVuadh, known by 
the name of the White Monarch of Ireland. He was son-in-law of king Cormac, 
the son of Olioll More, and grand-son of Con of the hundred battles. His two 



198 

in chief. The king reposed the greatest confidence in the wisdom, 
prudence, and military talent of Fingal, so that he was the mon- 
arch's associate in council, in studies, and marshal achievements. 
The gallant son of Gumhal was not more valiant than he was ac- 
complished, as his mind was richly endowed with every liberal art, 
and science prevailing in the age in which he lived. By the daugh- 
ter of Cormac he had two sons, the famous Ossian, and Fergus, who 
have acquired such immortal renown by their feats of arms, and 
their exercise of poetic genius. There are but few of our princes 
more celebrated than king Cormac Cas, for his daring courage, 
extensive literary attainments, political sagacity, and sage jurispru- 
dence. His intrepid chivalry was always conspicuous in the throng 
of the battle. As a poet, notwithstanding his passion for arms, he 
ranked high, so much so, that he obtained the estimation of a 
prophet.* He was the first prince of Munster that established an 
annual payment on every first day of November, of his royal 
revenue. 

The army and general of Cormac had the tendency of keeping the 
other Irish princes in awe and fear, and his power gave often, it 
must be allowed, insolence to his ambition, which was extravagant. 
By threats, he compelled the people of Leinster to pay him tribute, 
and the inhabitants of Connaught, after trying the issue of two bat- 
tles, in which they were defeated by Fion, had to submit to Cormac, 
and pour into his cofi'ers the impost which he had demanded. The 
monarch, Mac Con, beheld these proceedings with much secret an- 
ger and jealousy ; but he was not at all in a situation to wage a war 
with his step-brother. 

Not content with domestic conquests, Cormac invaded Wales, in 
order to gratify the vengeance which he had long cherished against 
the government and people of that country, for the assistance 
which they had afforded Mac Con, when he w^as banished thence, 
by his father, Olioll. After ravaging the country, and enriching 
himself with spoils and contributions, he returned to his palace at 
Cashel. Here he was not long suffered to enjoy repose ; for a 
branch of the Damnonii revolted in South Munster, against whom 
he took the field, and quickly succeeded in reducing them to sub- 
jection ; just as their allies, the Ultonians, and the Fionna Erion, 
commanded by the king of Ulster, were at hand to afford them suc- 
cour. Against these, Cormac marched, and in their retreat, which 
they commenced as soon as they heard of the victory over the Dam- 
nonii, brought them to an engagement in Meath, where the heroic 

sons, Oisin (the Ossian of Mac Pherson) and Fergus, by the Irisli princess, were 
renowned in arts and arms. Fergus Findheoil, or fair lips, figuratively meaning of 
sublime diction, has been emphatically styled "the philosophic poet of pointed 
expression." 

" That great body of heroes, the Irish Militia, was commanded by Finn, the 
gallant son of Cumhal, who was married to the daughter of king Cormac Cas." — 
Warner. 

* " This great monarch was transcendantly pre-eminent above all others, in the 
third century, for his profound knowledge in the antiquity and jurisprudence of his 
country ; — the schools he endowed, the books he composed, the laws he establish- 
ed, bear unquestionable testimony of his munificence, wisdom, and learning." — 
McElligott. 



199 

monarch slew the king of Ulster with his own hand ; but in the 
desperate struggle, he was mortally wounded himself, and he fell on 
the body of his brave antagonist. Thus was ended the glorious reign 
of Cormac Cas, as gallant and magnanimous a prince as ever 
adorned the throne of Munster. " The issue of Cormac Cas, by his 
Queen, a Danish Princess," says Dr. O'Halloran, " were Moghcorb, 
Aoif, and Eadhoin." 

King Cormac was a munificent pati-on of the artists and poets of 
his country, as the Psalter of Cashel asserts, that he often bestowed, 
in one day, three hundred ounces of silver to the Bards and literati 
at his court. 

At this time, A. D. 234, Cormac, the son of Art, the monarch of 
Ireland, who was killed by Mac Con, at the battle of Muigh CruimJie, 
became very popular with the Irish nation, in consequence of his 
various accomplishments, and the valour that distinguished his mar- 
tial exploits in the wars of his cousin Cormac Cas. Prepossessing 
in appearance, elegant in manners, and enlightened by a finished 
education, the Irish people unanimously wished to see him elevated 
to the throne of Ileremon, which was now filled by a usurper of 
the line of Ith. Thus fostered and encouraged by national partiality, 
he resolved to make a gallant struggle to wrest the crown from the 
brows of Mac Con, as well as to avenge the death of his father. 
Supported by strong parties in Connaught and Munster, he publicly 
avowed his intention of dethroning the reigning king. 

His eloquence and insinuating manners seduced many of the 
former adherents of Mac Con to his cause. With a splendid retinue 
of knights, Druids and warriors, he payed a visit of congratulation 
to his cousin, Fiacha Muillcathan, who had just succeeded, in 
conformity to the will of his grand-father, Olioll, to the throne of 
Munster, on the death of his uncle, Cormac Cas. Both these princes 
became attached to each other by a stronger tie than even that of rela- 
tionship ; — the sympathy which springs from a community of feeling 
and interest, and a cherished desire of being revenged on a common 
enemy ; for both their fathers, Art and Eogan, were killed, when 
fighting side by side, at the battle of Muigh Cruimhe, against Mac Con. 
From Cashel, Cormac repaired to the court of Emania to solicit his 
relation, king Fergus, and the knights of the red branch, to enlist 
under his standard ; — and after partly gaining his object in Ulster, 
he then journeyed to Connaught, where the brave Clana-Morni 
pledged themselves to support his pretensions. When the note of 
this mighty preparation reached the monarch's ears, it struck 
apprehension into his vei-y heart ; for the black storm he saw 
gathering round him portended direful destruction to himself and his 
race. Rousing from the indolence in which he had for some years 
loitered, he proceeded to establish such measures as might contravene 
and frustrate the threatened attack of his competitor. To recruit his 
army, naturally became the first object of his solicitude. He sum- 
moned the provincial kings to his standard ; and for the purpose of in- 
ducing his relatives in Munster to espouse his cause, he made a journey 
into that province. But the king, Fiacha, burning with vengeance 
against Mac Con, for the death of his father, not only refused him 



200 

the rites of hospitality, but commanded him on pain of seizure, to 
depart from his territories in twenty-four hours. Thus mortified 
and insulted, he had to retrace his steps back to Tara, but while on 
his journey he was treacherously slain by Comain Eigis, in the 
county of Meath,-in the thirtieth year of his reign.* There is little 
doubt but the assassin was urged and instigated to the commission 
of the atrocious deed by prince Cormac. 

Though Mac Con gained the throne by the sword, yet his reign 
was disgraced by no tyrannic act. Our historians say that he was 
a liberal friend to poets and artists, and that at the period of his 
murder, he was engaged in rewarding his Bards and antiquaries 
with presents of gold and silver. t Cormac, on hearing of the death 
of Con, was certain of being elected monarch of Ireland by the 
national estates, and in this hope he proceeded to Ulster, where, to 
increase his popularity, he invited all the princes and nobility of the 
province to a sumptuous entertainment. In the midst of the revels 
of this banquet, when wine subdued the mental and physical 
energies of Cormac, Fergus, king of Ulster, who secretly aspired to 
the Irish crown, set the long flowing hair of his rival on fire, which 
was instantly consumed, and thus deprived him of being a candidate, 
as he expected for the monarchy ; for our ancient princes valued 
themselves on the length and luxuriance of their hair, which was 
deemed so indispensable an ornament, that no prince could aspire 
to sovereignty who was divested of it.| Thus insulted and disgraced, 
Cormac was rendered incapable of presenting himself at Tara as a 
candidate ; so that Fergus succeeded in gaining the suftrages of the 
electors, by which he ascended the summit of his ambition — the 
Irish throne. Fergus was the grandson of Ogaman, a prince of the 
house of Heremon, whom, it will be recollected, Conaire II. raised 
to the regal authority in Ulster. 

Cormac retired to some solitude, as he could not consistent with 
dignity, appear in public with a bald head, until his hair grew to its 
natural length, when he went among his friends and proclaimed the 
wrongs and insults he sufi'ered at the hands of Fergus. Fiacha, 
king of Munster, Tiege, prince of Ely, Lugha-Leagha, his grand- 
uncle, declared that they would aid him in carrying on a war of 

* " The place of his death, near to the river Boyne, is known to this day by the 
name of " Goit an oir,^^ or the golden field ; which title is received, because 
Mac Con, when he was slain, was distributing his liberality, and rewarding the 
merit of poets and artists with large sums of money." — Keating. 

t " Mr. O'Flaherty allows to Mac Con but a reign of three years ; but in this, 
as well as in many other instances of chronology, he opposes the voice of truth and 
antiquity : for nothing is more certain, that both his successor Cormac, as well as 
his contemporary Fiacha, king of Munster, were not born for some days after the 
battle of Muicruimhe; — so that this circulation Cormac must have been called to 
the throne at four years old ; and that in a country where no one was capable of 
filling any public office until after twenty-five years of age." — 0'HALL0RA^f. 

X " Not only every prince, but even every knight of Ireland, was obliged to 
be perfect in all his limbs, so that his very person might command respect. 
Fine hair graced all these perfections, and set them off with dignity and comli- 
ness." — McDermott. 

" To cut off the hair of an adversary, was a mark of the highest contempt ; nor 
dare he appear abroad with such a degrading mark of infamy as a bald head." — 
O'Flaherty. 



201 

vengeance against the monarch. A mighty army is speedily raised, 
and Cormac, in the short space of thirty days, saw liis banners 
waving over the heads of fifty thousand men, commanded by thirty 
princes, and fifty great captains. With this grand and powerful 
army, he carries terror and devastation to the plains of Criona, 
where he was stopped by Fergus, to try the fortune of a battle. 

This battle, so fierce and terrible, was fought, A. D. 254. The 
hostile legions encountered each other with the most inveterate 
rancour and fury. Lugha-Leagha clove down all that opposed liim ; 
his arm was like the red thunder-bolt cleaving through the summer 
forest, as it paved its way through hostile ranks. Both armies stood, 
for a time motionless, in astonishment, beholding his invincible 
bravery as he rushed through steel-bristled soldiers to seek distin- 
guished enemies worthy of his sword. Folt-Eahhair, one of the 
brothers of Fergus, was the first prince that essayed to stop his 
death-spreading course ; but the spear of Lugha speedily drank his 
heart's blood. His brother Chaisfhiadacli, or of the crooked teeth, 
seeing his beloved Eabhair fall, rushed on the enraged hero to 
avenge Folt, but he found his fate on the point of his spear. He 
now, like a hungry lion, trampling on crawling reptiles, bore down 
all that endeavored to arrest his overwhelming career, in pursuit of 
the king, whom he attacked in the midst of his guards, slew him, 
and then cut off" his head, which he brought to Cormac, with those 
of Fergus's two brothers, as trophies of his victory. The royal 
army seeing the monarch and all their chiefs slain, began to give 
ground ; but in their retreat they were encouraged by the Ultonians 
to rally and to continue the desperate conflict, until Tiege, or Thady, 
with a fresh body of troops, fell on the gallant Ultonians, and thus 
decided a glorious victory for Cormac. Mostly all the officers of 
rank in Cormac's army were severely wounded. Tiege was pierced 
by a spear in three parts of his body, from which there issued so 
profuse a quantity of blood, as reduced him to such feebleness, that 
his attendants were obliged to carry him to Tara, in a litter. Here 
the hero languished in great torment, until his friend Lugha, brought 
to him from Munster a celebrated surgeon, called Finighin, who 
extracted from the wounds a peace of a spear, and the barbed point 
of an arrow, which operation quickly alleviated Tiege's agony, and 
divested him of all pain. Dr. Keating tells an incredible story of 
the cause of the virulence of Thady's wounds, which we merely 
transcribe for its absurdity and improbability. " As the valiant 
Thady was lying convenient to the field of battle, grievously wounded, 
Cormac came to the place, and perceiving Thady in that miserable 
condition, by the pain of his wounds, called to a surgeon who was 
in his company, and with the most barbarous design, commanded 
him, under the pretence of dressing one of the wounds, to convey 
an ear of barley into it ; into the second wound he ordered him to 
inclose a small black worm ; and in the third, he was to conceal the 
point of a rusty spear ; and then he was to take care, in the admin- 
istering of his medicines, that the wounds should seemingly be cured ; 
but they were not to be searched to the bottom, in order to give him 
the more pain, and by degrees to affect his life." It were impossible, 
26 



202 

for a moment, to suppose, that a gallant and generous prince, as 
Cormac certainly was, could have acted the part of such a monster 
of cruelty, perfidy, and ingratitude, towards the brave man, who 
contributed so effectually in vanquishing his enemies, and thus 
opening for him a road to supreme power. But as the horrid tale 
is neither found in OTlaherty, Molloy, nor the Psalter of Cashel, 
we may regard it as one of those ridiculous fictions with which 
Keating's history is fraught, until it overflows with legendary 
nonsense, that every acute and discriminating Irishman must repro- 
bate for folly and absurdity. Keating was certainly very learned, 
but he was too extensive a dealer in chimeras, and v.'as unfortunately, 
for his credit as a historian, ever ready to retail out the traditionary 
stories of superstitious old chroniclers with whom Ireland, in his 
day, abounded. 

Cormac's coronation at Tara, after his great victory, was distin- 
guished by an unusual degree of pomp, magnificence, and pageantry, 
in order to give an imposing eclat to the solemnity. More than one 
hundred Druids assisted, we are told, in the splendid and affecting 
ceremonial of his inauguration, on the stone of destiny. This 
memorable event occurred, according to our most creditable 
annalists, A. D. 255. 

The greatness and glory which Cormac was destined to attain as 
a monarch and a conqueror, were, we are told, predicted by the 
Druids at his birth ; — and even before he was born, the night 
preceding the sanguinary battle of Muigh Cruimhe, his mother, the 
Queen of Art, awoke afiVighted from a fearful dream which she had. 
The king, perceiving her perturbation, solicited her to detail to him 
the particulars of her vision, as his knowledge of Druidical divination 
would enabk him to unfold the mystic secrets that lay enveloped in 
the tangled web of futurity. She, in conformity to his request, gave 
him the following relation of it, which we give in the words of the 
Translator of OTlaherty : — 

"Methought, said she, that my head was taken off, and from my 
neck sprung up a large tree, whose extended branches covered the 
whole kingdom. This tree was destroyed by a swelling sea ; but 
from its roots arose another, larger and more flourishing than the 
former, which vras withered, in full bloom, by the blasts of a westerly 
wind." Art, who was well skilled in the prescient mysteries of the 
Druids, explained his wife's dream in this interpretation. " This 
dream," my love, said he, " bodes ill to me, but it presages glory 
for our posterity ; Your head being cut off, denotes my death in 
the battle to-morrow ; for the head of every woman is her husband. 
The tree that arose from your neck, imports that you will bear a 
son for me, after my death, who will arise at great power and dignity, 
and rule as supreme monarch of Ireland : this tree being carried 
away by the sea, signifies the loss of his life through the means of 
that element. The second tree, proceeding from the roots of the 
former, and still more flourishing, foretels a successor to him, who 
will arrive at still greater power; but the tree being destroyed by a 
westerly wind, declares he will fall by the hands of the Fianna 
Eirion, or the Irish militia. But they themselves shall be also 



203 

destroyed in that battle, never after to arise to annoy the royal race 
of Heremon." 

It is a historical fact, sustained by the concurrent testimony of all 
our annalists, that king Arthur's prediction, given in the elucidation 
of his Queen's dream, was virtually verified by the actual occurrence 
of the prognosticated events. 

Art, the next morning after his wife's dream, was killed in the 
battle, by Lugha-Leagha. His son, Cormac, who, after wading 
through oceans of difficulties and blood, mounted the throne, and 
became a powerful monarch, at length lost his life, as O'Halloran 
tells us, " by the bone of a salmon crossing the CBsophagus, whilst at 
dinner." His gallant son Carbre, as will be seen in a future chapter 
of this history, reached great glory and grandeur as monarch of 
Ireland ; but in fulfilment of his grand-father's prophecy, he was 
killed at the battle of Gabhra, fought, A. D. 280, after annihilating 
the Fianna Eirion, or Irish militia. 



CHAPTER XXVIIL 



7%e reign of Cormac — the grandeur of his court, and the excellence of his institutions. 
He punishes the ravishcis of the Vestals of the Moon — and causes the palace of 
Tara to he enlarged and heauttfied. — Reduces Leinster and imposes an annual 
tribute on that province. — Appoints Fion Mac Cumhal generalissimo of the Irish 
army in Albany. — Fion's character of the Irish ladies. — Cormac demands tribtde 
from Munster. 

Cormac having, as already related, gained the summit of regal 
power, formed the noble and patriotic resolution of exerting bis 
talents and authority for the welfare of his people. He, animated 
with this spirit, reformed the laws, so as to make them accord with 
the wishes of the nation, and introduced other changes in the state, 
of a highly beneficial character.* The history of the countiy from 

* " He applied himself with great assiduity to revise tlie ancient laws of the 
kingdom ; that he might abolish those which were inconvenient or absurd, retain 
those which were useful, and establish others which were accommodated to the 
temper and genius of the people he was to govern. This is a lesson to princes and 
states of modern times, which, as they are more enlightened, it is shameful that 
they are yet to learn : — and it shows either want of spirit, want of attention, or 
want of genius in the prince and people, to be governed by laws and customs, 
introduced so many hundred years ago, that they are become useless, inconvenient, 
and the meaning of them being not understood, ridiculous. The Irish monarch 
had too much wisdom and resolution to permit laws and customs to have authority, 
merely because they had been such : unless ihey were still of use, and adapted to 
the manners of the age he lived in. Therefore, like a true friend to his country, 
he meditated and effected such alterations in its laws and customs, as the nature 
of the constitution, and the circumstances of the times required. The ordinances, 
which he established for the public good, which are yet to be seen in the old Irish 
records, and which show his great skill in the laws and antiquities of his country, 
were never abolished whilst the Irish regal government had existence." — Warner. 

" This royal civilian, reduced the laws into axioms, which, like those of old 
Royneys, obtained the title of Breatha-JYimhe, or celestial judgments. These were 
deemed to have been composed with so much equity and wisdom, as to merit the 
approbation of heaven, and to be consequently unalterable. In the times of 



204 

the reign of his illustrious predecessor, Ollamh Fodhla, was by his 
orders submitted to the supervisorship of the whole body of the Irish 
Literati. He summoned all the Druids of his kingdom to Tara, in 
order that they should, in full convocation, make an inquiry into the 
state of religion, and establish such ordinances as might be conducive 
to the promotion of national virtue and morality. 

"Hence in old writings," says O'Halloran, "We find him 
proclaimed, Rudhrigh, hudhphaidh, hudh ecean acaoimli-Jine,'''' which 
in English is : — He was the good king, the pious divine, and tlie 
learned philosopher, as well as the noble chief of the brave military 
bands of Ireland. After having made the reformation in church and 
state, which he thought the interests of the country required, he 
employed architects and artists of eminent skill to enlarge and 
embellish the palace of Tara. While these improvements were 
going on, he resided at Miodh-Cuarta, in West Meath, where the 
court and national assembly were removed. " This country palace," 
says Keating, " though far inferior to the royal palace of Tara, was 
300 cubits in length, and 50 in breadth, and thirty in height ; a 
marble dome or lantern, sprung from the centre of the edifice, which 
enlightened the state chamber. There were besides the apartments 
of the king, queen, princes, and nobility of the kingdom, 150 bed 
chambers for the accommodation of strangers." The magnificence 
and hospitality of king Cormac, surpassed in splendor and profusion 
those of any other Irish monarch famed in our annals. His court 
exhibited pomp and plenty, under their most imposing aspects. 
Exclusive of his own family, and the families and retinues of the 
provincial princes, there were more than fifteen hundred other 
persons feasted at his tables daily. At state dinners, the king was 
attended by one hundred and fifty knights of noble blood, and his 
household guard, were never less in number than eleven hundred 
soldiers. All the utensils and vessels used at the royal table were, 
we are told, of pure gold. No Irish prince ever lived in such a style 
of superb grandeur as Cormac, which rendered his name and 
hospitality so famous, and so lauded throughout Europe.* The 

Christianity, likewise several eminent civilians compiled into one bodyj the celes- 
tial judgments of the ancients, and added some of their own. Dublhach 
O'Lughair, in the time of St. Patrick, Shenahan, the three brothers, Faranan, 
Bcelhgal and Maeltuile, distinguished civilians of the eighth century, and several 
others. Duald Mac Ferbis, the most learned antiquarian of latter times, was 
possessed of a considerable number of the Brcatha-JYimhe. He alone could 
explain them ; as he alone, without patronage or assistance, entered into the 
depths of this part of our ancient literature, so extremely obscure to us of the 
present age. When we mention Mac Ferbis, we are equally grieved and ashamed ; 
his great but neglected talents, ignominious to his ungrateful countrymen ; his 
end tragical ; his loss irreparable ! This great man, who was assassinated by one 
of King William's troopers, while he was dying of hunger behind a hedge, wrote 
a commentary on Fin Mac CumhaVs version of celestial judgments." — Disser. on 
the History of Ireland. 

* There never had been a monarch on the throne of Ireland who was attended 
by such a numerous retinue ; the great guard, consisting of the flower of the 
Irish army, always on duty in the palace, and the other ensigns and distinctions 
of royalty which he had about him, which were equal to tlie dignity of the great- 
est princes at that time, made the court of this monarch the theme of universal 
fame. What added something to its lustre was his numerous issue ; three sons of 
great renown in arms, and ten daughters of distinguished beauty and rare accom- 
plishments." — Warner. 



205 

poets extolled his generosity and munificence to the highest pitch of 
hyperbolical adulation ; but Poets then, as well as now, were always 
ready to pay extravagant praise for racy wine and rare viands. 

In addition to his other ordinances, he caused tlie national conven- 
tion to enact a law, which would render it imperative on every future 
monarch of Ireland to retain in his court, a nobleman of Milesian 
blood as a companion, with whom he could converse freely and 
confidentially; — a learned and pious druid to administer to the 
spiritual wants of his conscience; — a chief judge to direct him in 
his judicial decisions ; — a skilful physician to take charge of his 
health ; — a poet to sing his exploits ; — a musician to dissipate his 
melancholy by the charm of melody ; — an antiquarian to explain 
historical mysteries, and read old inscriptions ; and three faithful 
treasurers to collect his royal revenue. It is a historical fact, that 
all his successors, down to the dissolution of our regal government, 
in the twelfth century, appointed officers to fill the stations which 
we have enumerated. Under his munificent auspices, the university 
of Tara was extended, and several new professors added to the 
number prescribed by the laws of Ollamh Fodhla. 

During the civil war waged between Cormac and Fergus, for the 
possession of the Irish throne, Dunluing, the prince royal of Leinster, 
and some of his companions, while inflamed with wine, killed the 
guards that protected the Cluain Feart, or the retreat of the vestals 
of the moon, after which they forced their way into the sanctuary, 
violated the virgins, and then, with relentless cruelty, put them to the 
sword. 

When Cormac ascended the throne, he caused an act of outlawry 
to be passed against the prince of Leinster, and his followers, for 
their horrible and barbarous deed. Dunluing, to evade the vengeance 
of justice, fled to Albania, where he stayed, but a few years, when 
exile became so intolerable, that he resolved to revisit his native 
land, at any hazard. 

The unfortunate prince, however, on his way to the palace of 
Ferns, was arrested, with twelve of his companions, at Armagh, and 
sent in chains to Tara, where the Brehons pronounced sentence of 
death against them. They were executed immediately after their 
trial.* The king not considering even death a suflScient expiation 
for the enormity of the crime, compelled the king of Leinster to 
send annually, during his life, as an eric, thirty white cows, with 
calves of the same colour, as well as brazen collars and silver bells, 
for their necks. Cormac having now established tranquillity, and a 
wholesome and equitable system of legislation in the country, felt 
himself at liberty to indulge his thirst for military renown in a 
foreign country. At this juncture, A. D. 258, the Dalriadian colony 
in Scotland, as tributaries of the Irish crown, implored aid from 
Cormac against the Roman legions, who then, by order of the 
emperor Valerian, made predatory incursions into their territories, 
and oppressed them most grievously. Fingal (as Macpherson 

* " The punishment of death was inflicted on criminals by the sword, by the 
arrow, or by drowning. Hanging, the most ignominious of all deaths, was 
unknown in Ireland until after the English invasion." — Hutchinson. 



206 

poetically styled him) had been in Caledonia with his militia, since 
the accession of Cormac, with whom he was on bad terms, but his 
force was so wasted by war and hardship, that he could no longer 
oppose the progress of the Romans. Though Cormac owed a grudge 
to Fion for deserting his father Art, in the hour of exigence, and for 
being the friend and ally of Mac Con, still he wished to conciliate 
the favor and friendship of the bravest, and most skilful general of 
the age ; and for this purpose he honored him with the command of 
the troops which he sent to Scotland. When Fion received this 
reinforcement, he attacked the Romans in their entrenched camp, 
and compelled them to retreat into Britain, after having sustained 
immense losses in their flight.* It was during this campaign, so 

* Mr. Laing, Pinkerton, Sir Walter Scott, the Edinburgh Reviewers, and the 
liberal and talented Sir James Macintosh, having given up their national claim 
and unfounded pretension to the honor of giving birth to Fion Mac Cumhal (Mr. 
Macpherson's Utopian " King of Selma,") or to his son Ossin, the immortal Irish 
Bard, renders it unnecessary for us to say much to prove a fact, on which the 
voice of Europe and America, has stamped the seal of Truth. It is, however, due 
from us to the memory of the late learned Charles O'Connor, of Ballenagar, to 
give some extracts from his conclusive arguments in refutation of Macpherson's 
allegations respecting the pretended poems of Ossian. Though Mr. O'Connor 
was not an eloquent writer, yet as a learned historian and a powerful logician, his 
pen, like the spear of Car hre Rlada, prostrated all his Caledonian antagonists. — P. 

Alluding to the Poems of Mr. Macpherson, Mr. O'Connor observes. — " He has 
lately published several poems, particularly those under the titles of Fingal and 
Temora, as translations from Ossian, whom he represents as a son of Fingal, who 
reigned in North Britain towards the close of the third century ; a monarch by 
the way, unknown hitherto in all the records of Ireland and Scotland. As those 
Poems, however, retain the names of some men and places celebrated in the ancient 
history of Ireland, it is evident, that the translator points out to us Oisin, the son 
of Fion Mac Cumhal, the renewed commander of the Irish militia, who led the 
forces of king Cormac O'Con against the Piomans. 

To these poems, Mr. Macpherson has prefixed dissertations, filled with false 
etymologies, which show his ignorance in the Gaelic or Scotic, and with negative 
arguments, drawn chiefly from Innes, a priest of the Scottish College in Paris. 
In one and the other, he endeavors to discredit all the writings of our earlier Bards, 
to make room for his Ossian, whom he represents as an illiterate Poet of an 
illiterate age, and whose Poems escaped the search of the best critics of Scotland 
and Ireland for 1400 years, till the modern Columbanus made the discovery, and 
restored the true text of what was not, through a whole millenium, committed to 
tcriting. 

Mr. Macpherson, like other travellers into unknown regions, not only indulges 
himself in the marvellous, but is audacious enough to think that he could impose 
on a learned age, what could not be tolerated in that of the greatest monastic 
credulity. He has discovered another monarchy of Scots in the highlands ; such 
as neither Fordan, Innes, Buchanan, nor any other writer of North Britain, who 
ever published a page on Scottish affairs, could get the smallest glimpse of. Had 
the author of Fingal and Temora been an ancient, he would not omit celebrating the 
most noted names in Ireland, from the first to the fourth century, in which it is 
supposed Fingal died. He would not confound the times of CuchuUin with those 
of Fion Mac Cumhal; nor erect a castle in Tara, many ages before the natives 
built any. Emania, Cruachan and Mmhuin, are not once mentioned in these 
poems; though the two first were the seats of the kings of Ulster and Connaught, 
and the last, Fion's own seat in Leinster. As a Poet, it must be confessed, that he 
merits our highest praises ; as an historical guide, he is the blindest that any age 
ever produced. His chronological errors can be excelled only by such as are 
geographical ; Teamore, near Dublin, in Meath, and the seat of the Irish monarchs, 
until the sixth century, he places in the province of Ulster. But Mr. Macpher- 
;Son's historical, chronological, and genealogical, and topographical errors, hrve 



207 

glorious to the Irish arms, that Fingal discovered that his sotlj 
OssTAN, who signalized his valor in several hard fought fields, in 
Caledonia, was attached to an Albanian princess, whom he wished 
to marry ; but Fion opposed his objection to a matrimonial alliance 
with a foreigner. Baron Harold, in liis elegant translation of 
our Irish Bard, gives us the following English version of Fingal's 
remonstrance with his son. "My son of the noble line of Heremo- 
niun heroes, — thou gallant descendant of Erin's kings — the down of 
youth grows on thy cheek — martial renown is loud in thy praise — 
Romans fear thee, their eagles were dazzled by the lightning of thy 
spear — they flew before thee, like timid birds before the hawks of 
Leinster. Is it in the morning of thy fame, bright with the sun- 
beams of martial glory, that thou wouldst ally thyself with the 
daughter of the Pict, and thus sully the royal purity of Milesian 
blood ? Thy country is proud of thy exploits, and the royal virgins 
of Erin sigh for thy love, while Cormac's Bards sing of the deeds of 
thy bravery in the strife of the mighty. O ! then, Ossian, of dulcet 
harmony, listen to the voice of thy father. Albanian maids are fair, 
but fairer and lovelier are the chaste daughters of thine own wave- 
washed Isle of wood-crested hills. Go to thy happy Isle, — to 
Branno's grass-covered field. Ever-Alien, the most brilliant gem in 
the diadem of female loveliness, the trembling dove of innocence, 
and the daughter of my friend, deserves thy attachment. The pure 
blood of Milesius glows in her guileless heart, and flovi^s in her blue 
veins. Majestic beauty flows around her as a robe of light, and 
modesty, as a precious veil heightens her youthful charms. She is 
as lovely as the mountain flower when the ruddy beams of the rising 
sun gleam on its dew-gemmed side. Go, take thy arms, embark in 
yonder dark-bosomed ship, which will soon bear you over ocean's 
foam, to green Branno's streamy vales, where you will win a pure 
virgin heart, that never yet heaved with a sigh of love. For thee 
the vernal rose of passion will first effuse its sweetness through her 
sighs, and blush in all its beauty on her cheeks." 

The revenues of Cormac, though immense, were still inadequate 
to meet the great expenditure which his munificent state and sump- 
tuous hospitality required. 

To supply his exhausted exchequer, he was ready to resort to any 
expedient, no matter how unjust, which his financial ministers might 
suggest. After thinking some time on the " v/ays and means" best 
calculated to extricate the king out of his pecuniary difficulties, they 
resolved to intimate to the monarch to demand a large arrear of 
tribute from Munster, which they persuaded him had been long due. 

A pretext is enough for an ambitious conqueror to make war on 
his neighbors. Cormac, through his ambassadors, now imperiously 
required the people of Munster to be prompt in the payment of a 
tribute to which he asserted, that the compact entered into by Here- 
been already sufficiently exposed to need further comment. His system has fallen 
to the ground, in spite of the defence of Blair and Sir George Mackenzie. Indeed, 
the Ossianic forgery is a womb teeming with inconsistencies and absurdities, 
which, like the children of sin, in the Paradise Lost, prey upon the bowels of their- 
common mother." 



208 

mon and Heber, justly entitled him. The Mamonians boldly refused 
to comply with this requisition, and told Cormac's ambassadors that 
subsequent treaties of peace, particularly those between Con and 
Eogan-More and Con, and Mac Neidh, had completely abrogated 
and invalidated the grounds on which he rested his pretensions to 
the tribute. This prompt and peremptory negative to his requisition, 
kindled the monarch's resentment; and while yet smarting under 
the influence of his indignation, another event opportunely occurred, 
that still further augmented the fuel of his fury, and, in the opinion 
of the world, furnislied him with new grounds of justification for his 
firm resolve of chastising the inhabitants of Munster. An officer of 
high rank happened, at this juncture, to fall under the king's 
displeasure, for some delinquency which our ancient annalists have 
omitted to mention. This fallen personage had powerful friends 
and relatives of high consideration, who interested themselves 
zealously in his behalf, and tried every eflfort of intercession to have 
him restored in the monarch's favor and confidence. 

Amongst the number who thus endeavored to reinstate the 
obnoxious officer, in his former post, the most firm and influential 
intercessor was Aongiis, the king's grand uncle. 

This prince, who was brother of Con of the hundred battles, 
succeeded in obtaining an unqualified pardon for his friend. But as 
the aged prince and his protegee, on their return from the audience 
chamber, were rejoicing at their success, the latter was treacherously 
assailed by Cealagh, the monarch's son, and deprived of his eyes. 
This outrage, which was the effect of malice and jealousy, provoked 
the rage of Aongus, who, in the vehemence of his passion, pursued 
the young prince into the audience chamber, and killed him at the 
foot of his father's throne. The king shocked and horrified, hasti'y 
descended from his throne to arrest the slayer of his son ; but the 
offender, flinging his spear at him, made such a precipitate retreat, 
that he gained the outside of the court portal, before the wounded 
monarch could give an intimation to the guards of what had 
happened. 

Aongus, well aware of the vengeance with which the king would 
visit him, for the death of a beloved son, and the attempt on his own 
life, rapidly fled with his family to the court of Cashel, where Fiacha, 
king of Munster, received them with every show of kindness and 
hospitality. The cordiality and friendship of this reception to the 
now proclaimed rebel, were the signals for hostilities. Aongus, 
who stood high in the king of Munster's estimation, was assigned 
the county of Waterford, then called the Deasies, as his territory. 
The O'Phealans, once a powerful sept, called the princes of the 
Deasies, were the proprietors of the county of Waterford, until the 
invasion of Henry II when the Le Poers, or Powers, by force of 
arms, despoiled them of their inheritance. The whole nation 
sympathized with the monarch on the death of his son, and vowed 
vengeance against the man who slew him, and wounded the sacred 
person of the king. A war of extermination was instantly proclaimed 
against the king of Munster and his people, for sheltering the rebel 
Aongus. Cormac, burning with indignation, hastened with a large 



209 

army into Munster, for the purpose of satiating his revenge in the 
waste annihilation of that country. The people of Munster quickly 
adopted measures to oppose the progress of the furious invader. 

They encamped on a high eminence, where they had resolved to 
either conquer or die. Cormac, led on hy resentment, and the 
desire of revenge, made an impetuous charge on his antagonists in 
this formidable position, in which he was repulsed, after sustaining 
a serious loss. The royal army were pursued by the victorious 
Mamonians, who grievously harassed them in their retreat to 
Kilkenny. 

Cormac having received considerable reinforcements here, he 
began again to act on the offensive. This argumentation of the 
royal troops induced the Munster army to fall back on Limerick, 
whither they were speedily followed by the monarch. Here, we are 
told, the contending forces suffered great hardships and privations 
by the scarcity of fresh water, as the Shannon was then quite muddy 
and stagnant, and all the springs in the country were dried up. 

Some of our historians were silly enough to attribute this draught 
to the magic spells and incantations of Cormac's Druids, which 
they had produced, in order to ruin the Munster forces ; — but the 
Necromancers of king Fiacha, equally potent in enchantments, 
counteracted the magic design, by extending its evils through the 
royal camp. Cormac, however, at length, by skilful manoeuvres, 
forced the army of Munster to an engagement, in which they resisted 
his attacks with such bravery and gallantry, that he was obliged to 
abandon the field of battle during the night, and leave it in the 
possession of his valiant enemies, 

On the following morning the victorious king of Munster followed 
up his success with such vigor and celerity, that he succeeded in 
hemming in Cormac in a defile, in the county of Tipperary, where 
he constrained him to submit to humiliating terms of capitulation, 
by which he agreed to relinquish all sovereign pretension to Munster, 
and to pay into the coffers of king Fiacha as much money as would 
compensate the people of Munster for the damages and losses 
occasioned by the invasion. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Cormac invades Conna.ught — causes his minion, Conla, to assassinate Fiacha, king 
of Munster. — The monarch banishes the Druids from Tara, and prof esses himself 
a Christian. — His death and character. 

It was absolute necessity that constrained the monarch to submit 
to terms so humiliating as those which the victorious Fiacha imposed 
upon him, on this occasion ; so that at the very moment of singing 
his name and affixing his signet to this celebrated treaty, he had 
determined to break through its stipulations as soon as circumstances 
27 



210 

should afford him an opportunity of doing so. Inveterate resentment 
and the desire of sacrificing his former benefactor, the gallant king 
of Munster, to his vengeance, now absorbed, in his mind, every 
sense of justice and generosity, and congealed every nobler feeling 
of sympathy and honor in his heart. 

Enslaved by the direful influence of these exasperating passions, 
and chagrined and mortified by the remembrance of his antagonist's 
triumph, his whole thoughts were occupied in planning his destruction. 
One day, while the monarch was thus musing on the means of 
accomplishing his deadly design of revenge, Conla, the son of Tiege, 
the celebrated General, a great court favorite, came into the royal 
apartment, for the purpose of informing Corniac, that his whole 
frame had been suddenly inflamed by a leperous distemper, and of 
imploring his majesty, who was eminently skilled, like all the Irish 
Driyds, in the healing art, to prescribe some cure for the disease 
w^hich so painfully afiiicted him. The royal soothsayer, after 
examining the state of Conla's body, informed him, with aflected 
sorrow, that his malady would remain irremediable unless the fistu- 
lous eruptions of his dody were bathed in the blood of a king ; a 
cure which he might despair of obtaining. It is supposed, by our 
annalists, that Cormac, after giving this opinion to his patient, 
instigated him to assassinate Fiacha, whose blood would afford the 
sanative balsam, that could alone assuage and eradicate a painful 
and malignant distemper.* In a short time subsequent to this 
conference, Conla repaired to the court of Cashel, where king Fiacha 
received him in the most hospitable and polite manner. One day, 
as the king and Conla were walking with a small retenue of nobles, 
on the flowery banks of the pellucid river Suire, his majesty signified 
his intention of bathing. No sooner had the devoted Fiacha plunged 
into the glassy stream, than the treacherous Conla launched his 
spear at him, which transfixed his body. The regicide was instantly 
seized by the attendants ; but the dying prince, too noble for revenge, 
commanded that his life should be spared. 

We have no further account of this assassin of the brave Fiacha 
in our annals. It is probable, however, that he was killed by some 
avenging hand in Cashel. 

The eldest son of the murdered king of Munster, Oilioll O'Flan 
More, Avas called to the throne of his ancestors. This Prince having 
no children, abdicated the crown in favor of his brother, Oilioll Flan 
Beag, in the tenth year of his reign. From this king are descended 
the O'Duns, O'Locheins, O'Comains, O'Dermods, O'Meathus, and 
O'Nuallans. 

Cormac's exchequer becoming exhausted by keeping on foot large 
armies, both in Scotland and Ireland, he was in consequence driven 
once more to the alternative of demanding a new tribute from Lein- 

* In relation to this incredible story, Dr. O'Halloran makes the following- 
comment in his history. " The tale is told as the mere effect of Druidism ; but 
Cormac who had sense enough to see into the imposture of druidical woiship, and, 
if not a Theist, certamly died a Christian, I do suppose had also cunning enough 
to make it subservient to his own designs. This apology I thought necessary, as 
I have no authority for explaining this story in the manner I do, and so much to 
the dishonor of the Irish monarch." 



211 

ster ; but the prince and people there pertinaciously refused the 
required sum. The monarch then sent an army to enforce the 
payment of the tribute. As soon as the people of Leinster had notice 
of the approach of the invaders, they flocked to the standard of their 
general, the famous Laighseach, a descendant of the renowned 
Connal Rearnagh, and marching to Athy, in the county of Kildare,* 
fiercely attacked the foe and put theiB to the rout and disorder. The 
valor and genius displayed by Laighseach, in the campaign, gained 
for him the favor of the king of Leinster, and the warm admiration 
of the people. He was dignified with honors and enriched with 
rewards. 

The monarch bestowed on him the tract of country then called 
Leix, now the Queen's county, and invested him with the office of 
hereditary treasurer of Leinster, which post was held successively 
by the members of his family, until the invasion of Henry II. The 
O'Moore, the princes of Leix, were the hereditary chieftains of this 
illustrious sept, so distinguished in our armals for their martial glory 
and their romantic chivalry. Mr. O'Moore, of Ballina, in the county 
of Rildare, is the worthy and legitimate descendant of the great 
Toparchs of Leix. The Flanagans, Echlins, O'Keenans, and 
O'Ruadins, are collateral branches of this time-honored family. 

Corniac, finding that he could not succeed in extorting contribu- 
tions from Leinster, turned his arms against Connaught, with whose 

* Athy, in the county of Kildare, an ancient and respectable post and market 
town, stands on the beautiful banks of the river Barrow, at the distance of 42 
English miles S. W. from Dublin. It is governed by a sovereign, two bailiffs, and 
a recorder, and in population and wealth is next to Naas, the capital of the country. 
Before the union, this borough sent two members to the Irish parliament. The 
place which is now occupied by the town was an ancient ford, leading from the 
principality of Leix, in the Queen's County, to that of Caelan, in the county of 
Kildare. It derived its ancient name, At/i Trodain, or the stream of battle, from 
the rout and discomfiture of Cormac's army, as narrated in the text, by the forces 
of Leinster, under the heroic Laighseach. The town owes its original foundation 
to the erection of two abbeys, on each side of the river, A. D. 1210. The monas- 
tery on the west side of the river, which is now crumbling to ruin, was founded by 
Richard St. Michael, Lord of Rlieban, for crouched friars ; that on the east side 
was founded by the families of the Boisels and Hogans for Dominicans. This 
romantic and elegant town, of which we shall give a comprehensive account in 
our topography of Kildare, was the scene of memorable occurrences. In 1315, 
Prince Robert Bruce, defeated the Englisli army under Sir William Prendergast, 
near Athy. Sir William, and Haymond La Grace, fell in the engagement, and 
they, as well as Sir Fergus Anderson, and Sir Walter Murray, two of Bruce's 
officers, were interred in the Dominican abbey. The castle of Athy, which is still 
in good preservation, was built to secure the pale, by Gerald, the eighth Earl of 
Kildare, A. D. 1506. 

The brave Owen Roe O'Neil, and Patrick O'Rielly, the chieftain of Cavan, 
captured Athy from the parliamentary army under Hewson and Reynolds, in 
1648. 

The Duke of Leinster is the patron of the borough, and the proprietor of the 
soil ; his ancestor. Lord Offaly, became possessed of Athy, Rlreban, and Woodstock, 
in consequence of marrying Dorothea, the only daughter of Anthony O'Moore, 
Prince of LeLx, in 1424. Woodstock Castle, now as noble and affecting a pile of 
"feudal architectural ruins as any in Ireland, was orignally built by the Earl of 
Pembroke. This castle was repau-ed and enlarged in 1575 by the Earl of Kildare, 
and two of its towers are now used as prisons. Here are chimney pieces of 
Kilkenny marble that present fine specimens of sculpture, of which wo shall give 
a full description in the topography of the county of Kildare. — P. 



212 

king, on some pretence, he had quarrelled. After fighting several 
battles with the Connacians, he eventually reduced them to subjection, 
and deposed their sovereign, and raised his own step-brother, Lugna, 
to the throne. When Cormac had amassed all the money and spoils 
of Connaught, he evacuated the desolated country, and returned to 
Tara. But scarce had the monarch been seated in his palace, than 
he received intelligence of an insurrection in Connaught, which 
terminated in th©. death of Lugna, and the expulsion of the royal 
army out of the country. This news enraged and exasperated the 
monarch. He again placed himself at the head of his troops, and 
carried fire and sword once more into Connaught, which he devastated 
in the most merciless and oppressive manner. The usurping king 
fled from his throne, and Cormac appointed NiamJior, the brother of 
Lugna, in his room. It was during this expedition that king Cormac 
lost his eye in an engagement, a deprivation that forced him to 
abdicate the throne of Ireland soon after. Carbre, the monarch's 
eldest son, not being then, A. D. 270, arrived at mature age, the 
national estates elected Eocliaidh Gonnadli, the grandson of king 
Fergus, monarch of Ireland. The law that pronounced the mon- 
arch, who might be mained or wounded in fighting the battles of his 
country, incapable, afterwards, of reigning, was, we think, unjust, 
cruel, and barbarous. O'Halloran, in narrating this transaction, 
observes, with great truth, "It is, indeed, singular enough, that the 
brave Cormac, notwithstanding the many improvements he made in 
the police of the land ; notwithstanding his reducing Connaught into 
an Irish province, and transferring, in a manner, the crown of it 
from the Damnonii to his own family; yet still, by the loss of an 
eye, though in the cause of his country, he was judged unworthy of 
sovereign authority, and obliged to make a surrender of the crown. 
His son, too, wanting a short time of that age which the Irish law 
judged necessary for government, was, on this occasion, laid aside. 
But it was not enough that an Irish monarch should be of the blood 
royal, of the equestrian order, and of proper age; he must also be 
perfect in all his corporeal, as well as mental faculties." * 

Dr. Keating, in his history, gives a legendary story of the capture 
of a Pictish princess, about this period, by some of the knights of 
the Red Branch attached to Fion's army in Albania ; and that after 
the arrival of the fair captive in Ireland, the monarch heard of her 
beauty, which is of course represented as fascinating as that of any 
lovely heroine of romance, and commanded that she should be 
conveyed to Tara, as soon as possible, privately. The king on 
seeing her was transported with her attractive charms, and she, kind 

*■ It was not thought decent or propitious in those clays for any man to be a 
monarch who had a personal blemish ; he was, therefore, in consequeuee of the 
loss of his eye, contented to deliver up the reins of government, and to retire to a 
mean little house at Anacoil, in the vicinity of his former palace. Here it was, 
therefore, that he drew up " a Book of Advice to Kings " for the use of his son 
Carbre, tlien his successor on the throne, a book full of legislative wisdom and 
sound philosophy, which Keating and O'Flaherty mention as extant in their day ; 
and of which the former says, that it was such a testimony of Cormac's learning 
and political knowledge, as is worthy to be inscribed in golden characters for the 
information of princes, and as a perfect standard of policy to all ages. — Warner. 



213 

lady, " nothing loath," listened to his tender appeal to her heart with 
joy, and consented to become his inistress. The wliole fiction is 
wound up to a cUmax of dramatic romance by the enraged jealousy 
of the queen, and the cruel mode which she resorted to for the 
purpose of punishing her beauteous rival. This tale, which carries 
with it the marks of the alchymy of poetic fable, should have never 
been transfused through the alembic of Irish history by so grave and 
reverend a writer as Keating. 

Warner, and McDermott have, like us, alluded to the imaginary 
loves of Cor mac and the princess Ciarnuit, to stamp discredit on this 
silly traditionary relation. 

Before the monarch surrendered the emblems of regal power to 
his successor, Eochaidh, he published a manifesto, in which he 
denounced the druids as impostors, and the druidical religion as a 
system of error, idolatry and heresy ; and called upon the princes 
and people of the nation to break the idols and extinguish the fires 
of Bel, and transfer their homage and adoration to the great celestial 
Creator of the sun, as well as of all the universe. This paper was 
so fraught with powerful arguments, and persuasive eloquence, that 
a great majority of the princes and natioual representatives abjured 
the druidical ritual on reading it. This attack of king Cormac made 
the state religion of ages totter on its very foundation.* The druids 
were astounded at what they designated the daring and blasphemous 
impiety of an abdicating monarch. But when Eochaidh, on the 
day of his coronation, seated himself on the stone of destiny, and 
placed the diadem upon his head without their aid or attendance at 
the ceremony, their alarm became tremendous ; and they boldly 
predicted the ruin of the monarchy. 

* " Our celebrated Cormac O'Cuin (perhaps the greatest legislator of the Mile- 
sian kings, as he was indisputably the greatest philosopher of our nation) had so 
much learning and sagacity as to penetrate into the deception and delusion of the 
druidical creed, which for fifteen centuries had been the established religion of 
Ireland. This monarch had the courage of openly exclaiming against the imposi- 
tion and corruption of Druidism, and of asserting the original theology of the 
superintendence of one omnipotent, eternal, all creating and all merciful Beino-, in 
opposition to their superstitious and absurd system of Polytheism. As the laying 
the axe to the root, struck directly at the authority, and consequently the temporal 
power of those heathen priests, who warded against the stroke by a seasonable 
conspiracy, which cost that great monarch his life ; but his blood nourished the 
acrons from whence has sprung the majestic oak of Christianity, which will grow 
and flourish in spite of the tempest of wars and revolutions in Ireland, until time 
shall be no more." — Annals of the Four Masters. 

" Will it," says the liberal English writer. Dr. Warner, " be any longer doubted 
after this, whether the ancient native Irish had any philosophy, literature, or arts 
in their pagan state ! Will any critic in this country (England) any longer confi- 
dently assert, that the Irish had not the use of letters till after the arrival of St. 
Patrick, and the conversion of the island to Christianity } Ought we. English- 
men, not rather to take shame to ourselves, that we have hitherto always treated that 
ancient, gallant people, with such illiberal contempt — icho had the start of the 
Britons, for many ages, in arts and sciences — in learning and in laws." 

" Anterior to the propagation of the Gospel in Ireland, our great monarch, 
Cormac McArt, was transcendantly pre-eminent above all others, in the third 
century, for his profound knowledge in the antiquity and jurisprudence of his 
country, the schools be endowed, the books be composed, and the laws he estab- 
lished, bear unquestionable testimony of his munificence, wisdom, and learning," 
Transactions of the Dublin Gaelic Society. 



214 

King Cormac, well pleased that his religious principles had taken 
so deep a root in public opinion, retired from the cares, the pomp 
and grandeur of royalty, to a small cottage near Tara, to devote, 
after a signal and distinguished reign of twenty-three years, the 
remainder of his life to philosophy, literature and science. It was 
in this retreat that this illustrious prince wrote his famous book of 
Advice to Princes, a work that abounds with philosophic views, 
sound maxims of political wisdom, legislative knowledge, and an 
elegant literary taste. Here he also revised the Celestial Judgments, 
the Psalter of Tara, and Ollamh Fodhla's Treatise on the Laws and 
Antiquities of Ireland. His Advise to Kings is replete with the 
results of Legislative and governmental experience, as well as the 
dictates of that equitable and liberal policy that should regulate the 
relation of a prince with his subjects. It was written for the instruc- 
tion of his son, Carbre, and it luminously points out his duty as a 
king, a legislator, a soldier, a statesman, and a philosopher. A copy 
of this work was in the hands of Dr. O'Halloran when he wrote his 
History of Ireland. Would to Heaven we could lay our hands on 
it ! and our readers should soon have it in English. Though Cor- 
mac did not, in fact, exercise the executive power of the state now, 
still his influence had a preponderating effect in the councils of the 
government. All the ministers of the state and principal nobility 
often visited the humble residence of Cormac to consult him on 
national affairs. The druids observed with regret that Cormac's 
opinions and advice were still consulted, and regarded with as much 
respect and deference as ever. All their efforts to sink his popularity 
failed. As a dernier resort, they waited on king Eochaidh, and by 
threats of divine vengeance caused him to issue a proclamation 
calling on all the princes and notables of the nation, to come and 
worship the golden calf of Bel, on a stated day at Tara. The 
behest was imperative, and no person of any consideration was missed 
from the assembly on the solemn occasion, but the ex-monarch, 
whom of all other individuals the druids wished to have seen there. 
They bitterly complained to the reigning sovereign of the impious 
contempt with which Cormac had treated his decree, not only his 
xlecree, but the sacred worship of Bel. Eochadh, in reply to their 
complaint, suggested to them the expediency of bringing the holy 
idol to the residence of Cormac, and ascertain whether he was so 
refractory and heretical as to refuse its divine adoration. A depu- 
tation, consisting of Maoilogeann, the arch druid, and four of his 
suffragans, accordingly repaired to Cormac's abode, carrying with 
them the idol. 

When they reached the dwelling of the king, they found him 
offering up his prayers to the God of heaven and earth. The moment 
they entered the apartment they set up their idol on a tripod, and 
then fell down before it in the most profound reverence of devotional 
obeisance. As soon as the arch druid perceived that the monarch 
looked upon them and their ceremony with contempt, he arose, and 
in an authoritative and dogmatic tone, demanded why he refused 
joining in the adoration of the idol of Bel. The king with great 
energy replied, that he would worship no idol that human hands 



215 

could fashion ; for that the Deity whom he adored was so omnipo- 
tent that he could, with a breath, extinguish the sun and stars, dry 
up the ocean, and sink the universe beneath its bed. He then 
exhorted them to renounce their superstitious ritual, which was 
unworthy of rational and intelligent beings, and become worshippers 
of the God who held the destinies of heaven and earth in his divine 
hands. 

The druids appeared horror struck at Cormac's bold blasphemy, 
as they considered it. Not feeling themselves competent to enter 
into a controversy on the point, they instantly after the king had 
done speaking, bore away their calf, uttering imprecations, and 
vowing vengeance against him.* 

On the very evening after this conference, the king was choked 
by a bone of the salmon on which he supped. When the druids 
heard of his sudden death, of which they are accused, they repaired 
in solemn procession to the temple, and announced to the people 
that the impious Cormac was deprived of his life by the interposition 
of their oifended gods. Thus died Cormac O'Con, monarch of 
Ireland, a prince who might be emphatically called the Solon of 
Ireland ; for in legislative wisdom, and pbilosophic illumination, his 
character will not shrink from a comparison with the Athenian sage. 
That he did not possess the pity and justice which should ever find 
an asylum in the breast of a magnanimous king, we readily concede 
to those who may charge us with heightening, beyond desert, the 
colors of his eulogium. He was, indeed, ambitious, arbitrary, and 
revengeful ; and on several occasions, during his reign, he invaded 
the rights of the subject, and listened to the voice of despotism, 
instead of the admonitions of equity. These are the dark spots that 
must ever obscuie the halo which historic panegyric has thrown 
around the reputation of " Cormac the Lawgiver." Keating, 
O'Halloran, and O'Flaherty, concur in stating that in the sixth 
century St. Columbkille discovered the tomb of Cormac at Cruachan, 
in the county of Roscommon, in which his body was found quite 
perfect. The saint erected a church over the royal grave, whose 
ruins still exist. Our Annalists say that Fingal died A. D. 279, 
shortly after the demise of his royal master, in the camp of the Irish 
militia (or Fine Firtn) at Mull, in Argyleshire, Scotland, and that 
he was interred in a cave, in the island of Stafta, which is to this 
day denominated " Fingal' s Cave." t In our next chapter the rise 
and fall of the Irish militia shall occupy our attention. 

* King Cormac had convinced himself of the absurdities of idolatry, upon 
principles of philosophic reason too just and solid to be shook with their 
superstitious folly : and had he lived but a little longer, it is probable that pagan- 
ism would have been extinct in Ireland before the introduction of Christianity, 
and that the original theology and patriarchal worship would have been restored. 
Warner. 

t Vide Molloy, Jlnnals of the Four Masters, Bishop Usher, Camden, Pinkertony 
Shaw, Laing, McDcrmott, and the Book of Donegal. 



CHAPTER XXX, 

!fAe feign and death of king Carhre. — The hattlc of Gabhra, and the annihilation of 
the Irish militia; — and the death of Oscar, the son of Ossian. A. D. 297 

CArbre, sUi'named Ziiffechairc, in consequence of his having been 
nursed on the banks of the Liffey,* ascended the throne of his 
ancestors on the death of Eochaidh Gonnadh, who was assassinated 
in the first year of his reign. This monarch came recommended to 
the Irish people by all those prepossessions which the reputation of 
military talents, united with acknowledged literary acquirements, is 
calculated to create in favor of a new king. Carbre studied war, 
legislation and philosophy under the enlightened instruction of his 
father Cormac ; consequently, his cultivated genius was equally fitted 
for the direction of an army in the field, or a council of statesmen 
in the cabinet. In various exploits in the wars of his father, he gave 
signal proofs of his courage and capacity in the martial contest, 
while the treatises which he had written on jurisprudence and 
national polity raised his literary fame to the loftiest pinnacle of 
popular opinion.! Carbre, in his early years, was committed to the 
tutorage of Cormac's chief justice, the celebrated Flaithrighe. A 
singular story is told by our ancient historians, of this chief justice, 
of which we give a vei'sion on account of the moral it conveys. 
Fiothill, a learned Druid, the father of the chief justice, when on 
his death bed, called Flaithrighe to his presence, and solemnly con- 
jured him to observe religiously four injunctions which he would 
impose upon him with his dying breath. " Let," said the profound 
sage, " no temptation seduce you from the guidance of the following 
maxims : let them be the rule of your conduct, the beacons shining 
on the rocks of danger, to warn you from approaching destruction. 
Then, my beloved son, remember the advice of your father, which 
a parental solicitude for your welfare behooves him to oflfer. Let 
no consideration induce you to become the preceptor of a royal 
prince ; let neither wine nor amorous passion persuade you to 
entrust a secret to a woman ; let neither adulation nor interest 

* This pastoral and romantic river, which glides so majestically through the 
city of Dublin, springs from a ridge of mountains near the seven churches, in the 
county of Wicklow, through which county, as well as those of Kildare and Dublin, 
it winds its circuitous progress to the ocean, to which it pays its tributary streams 
at Clontarf, three miles below the city of Dublin. 

t " This prince seemed to inherit all the virtues of his renowned father, Cormac 
the Great ; for, like him, he revised the history and antiquities of his country, 
reformed the laws, and wrote rules for decisions in certain difficult law cases, 
which, from their precision, accuracy, and justice, go-t the title of Breithc Nimhc, 
or celestial judgments. Neither in liis personal conduct did he show himself 
unworthy of his great descent." — Warner. 

" When we read of the literary performances of the pagan Irish, must we not 
surrender our judgment to the most incorrigible prejudice if we assert that St. 
Patrick found them an unlettered people." — Vide 2 Henry's History of Great 
Britain^ vol. i. p. 573. 

" The great learning of the Irish Druids was the wonder of Europe ; and Julius 
Caesar alludes to them in his famous account of the Druidical order." — Pinkcrton. 



217 

influence you to elevate a person of low birth and narrow education 
to an exalted station; and finally, my dear child, never commit the 
care of your money, nor the management of your household afiairs, 
to a sister." 

The affected son faithfully promised to adhere inviolably to the 
admonitory injunctions of his parent; but the sequel will show how 
soon this resolution was subverted by the intervention of circum 
stances. Fiaithrighe's fame for literaiy attainments and moral 
prudence, pointed him out to king Cormac, as the most competent 
person in his dominions to instruct the heir apparent, prince Carbre. 
The young and aspiring lawyer was highly elated on receiving his 
royal pupil, with the commission of chief justice of the kingdom. 
Considering himself now on the summit of human grandeur, above 
the assaults of envy or calumny, he formed the resolution of trying, 
by experiment, the validity and justice of his father's maxims, whose 
veracity he had long doubted, by putting them to the test of practice. 
He, therefore, to carry his plan into eftect, concealed the young 
prince, when six years of age, in the hut of one of his foresters, 
under the care of a confidant, in the middle of a thick wood. Hav- 
ing thus left the child in perfect security, he returned home, and in 
the presence of his wife assumed the air of the greatest sorrow and 
dejection. She, surprised and alarmed at the expression of affliction 
which his countenance exhibited, anxiously inquired the cause that 
pressed so heavily on his spirits, but he remained as sad and silent 
as if sorrow deprived him of the power of utterance. This had the 
effect of heightening her amazement and exciting her curiosity, and 
summoning to her aid her tears, the most affecting eloquence that a 
woman can use to soften the heart of man, she at length elicited 
from him an evasive reply, enunciated in sighing accents and broken 
monosyllables. To her fond caresses and ardent entreaties, he 
pretended to yield compassionate pity by telling her that he had that 
day the misfortune of killing the prince royal. He then, in the 
most solemn and affectionate manner, conjured and implored her to 
lock up in her breast a secret on which his life depended. " Oh ! 
spouse of my affections," replied she, "do you for a moment suppose 
that my tongue could divulge a secret that would destroy my own 
happiness, and rob my heart of the source of its earthly felicity. 
Can you think me so base, so regardless of the fate of a husband 
whom I love dearer than my own life ?" 

The secret lay buried, however, but a day or two in the recesses 
of her bosom, for on some difference occurring between herself and 
her lord, she became so incensed against him, that in the fury of her 
rage, she hastened to the king and informed him of the fate of the 
prince his son. The unfortunate chief justice was dragged as a 
criminal from the bench, tried for the murder of the heir apparent, 
and condemned to die ! During the two days he was allowed to 
prepare for death, after his sentence of condemnation was pro- 
nounced, he wrote to an upstart whom he had raised to high dignity, 
to intercede in his behalf with the king, but that ingrate thirsted 
more for his death that any of his enemies, as the chief justice's 
life must only serve to remind him of his worthless and low origin. 
28 



218 

Disappointed by this ignoble creature of his bounty, as well as by 
the wife of his bosom, he, on the morning appointed for his execu- 
tion, apphed to his sister for the coffers of money with which he had 
entrusted her a few days before his misfortune ; but she, instead of 
sending it to him, grossly abused his messengers, and utterly denied 
ever having received any money from her brother. Prior to his 
ascending the scaffold, however, he solicited an audience of the king, 
whom he informed of the prince's existence and safety, as well as of 
the injunctions of his dying father. The king, overjoyed to find 
that his son was living, embraced the culprit, and ordered the upstart 
ingrate to be punished, and the wife and sister to be immured for 
three days in the very dungeon which Flaithrighe had left. No 
sooner were his fetters knocked off than he flew to the grave of his 
father, where he dropped a compunctious tear of expiation, and 
invoked his ghost to pardon his disobedience to parental injunction 
and sage admonition. 

Carbre being as it were the nursling of battles, was inspired with 
military ardor, and impatient after obtaining the diadem to signalize 
himself in fresh exploits. The Irish militia, under the command of 
Ossian, in Albania, having been greatly wasted and reduced in their 
various battles with the generals of the emperor Diocletian, implored 
the Irish monarch to send them reinforcements. With this request 
Carbre resolved to comply ; but he foresaw that unless he had money 
he could not raise a sufficient body of men for the expedition thither. 
He, therefore, like his father, resorted to the stale expedient of 
enforcing the payment of the Leinster tribute by the power of his 
arras. 

The Leinsterians far from tamely submitting to this arbitrary 
aggression, flew to arms to resist it- The formidable preparations 
made by the people of Leinster for a defensive war in support of 
their liberties, rights, and property, impressed Carbre with the con- 
viction that the military force then at his disposal in Ireland, was 
not at all adequate to the task of reducing Leinster. Still resolved 
to adiiere to his original pui'pose, he employed himself with unwearied 
assiduity in recruiting his armies, which, under his management and 
inspection, soon amounted to a powerful force, with which he 
speedily marched into Leinster. The indignant Leinsterians boldly 
met him in battle at Cnamhrois, in the county of Carlow, and, after 
a sanguinary conflict, in which the courage and proAvess of the rival 
combatants displayed acts of the most signal heroism, succeeded in 
gaining a decisive victory over the monarch, whom they put to flight 
with the loss of ten thousand of his best troops. We may form 
some idea of the obstinacy and valor with which this engagement 
was contested, by the immense number of the slain on both sides, 
which some of our annalists have estimated at fifteen thousand. 
The monarch's three sons, and some of the bravest of his officers, 
fell in the action. Notwithstanding the great disaster that attended 
Carbre's arms in the battle of Cnamhrois, his hopes of future con- 
quest were as aspiring as ever, and his resolution of subjugating 
Leinster instead of being enervated by recent defeat, only derived 
fresh power of inflexibility from it. He immediately proceeded to 



219 

retrieve his deranged affairs, and to fill up the chasms which defeat 
had made in his ranks. He recalled the Irish militia, with their 
generals, Ossian and Moghcorb, from Albania, in order to strengthen 
his battalions by the accession of that legion of heroes who had, for 
many ages, been the terror of the Roman armies. As the Fion 
Eirion, or Irish militia, have emblazoned the pages of our history 
with the purest lustre of valor, from the days of Heremon to the 
epoch of which we are now writing, it becomes necessary that we 
should give our readers a succinct detail of the rise and progress of 
that illustrious corps of chivalric heroes.* This band was originally 
organized by Heber and Heremon, and several of their successors 
introduced into the body various modes of discipline, and many 
salutary ordinances of military regulations ; but it remained for 
Cormac Mac Art, the father of Carbre, and his renowned general, 
Fion Mac Cumlial, to render the Irish militia, what the great Napo- 
leon rendered his imperial guard, invincible. 

None were admitted into this "legion of honor," but young 
men of respectable parentage, liberal education, and unblemished 
character. But a candidate that could not, in addition to these 

* " In. the reigns of Cormac and Carbre, the Irish militia were in their glory. 
Their exploits were the never failing theme of poetic encomium. At this era, they 
were commanded by Fion Mac Cumhal, (or Fingal, as Dr. Macpherson poetically 
terms him,) from which they took the name of Fiana Erion, or standing militia of 
the kingdom." — Bishop JVicholson. 

" The learned Keating and others tell us that these militia were called Fin, from 
Fion Mac Cumhal, (the Fingal of Macpherson ;) but it is certainly a great mistake ; 
the word Fin strictly implying a military corps. It is on this account that in the 
MSS. long before the present era, we found the word Fiii applied to any body of 
soldiery : thus we read of the Fin Fomharaig, or African legions ; the Fin gall, 
or foreign troops. Add to this, that in the ' Fcis Tighe Cunaine,' a very old MS. 
now before me, the champion Conmi puts the following question to Fion Mac 
Cumhal, from whom it has been asserted that these troops took their name : ' Ca 
halt an dearnadh an D'ord Fian, ar tnuis an Erin ?' i. e. at what time was the 
military order first instituted in Ireland .'' and he answers, in the time of the 
Danaans. On the partition of the island between Heber and Heremon, the differ- 
ent orders of the people, who attended them from Spain, were also divided ; and 
the lands assigned to the military were on condition of each chief supporting a 
stipulated number of armed troops to attend the prince when called on. The 
land thus disposed of, was called ' Fearan an Cloidhcamh,' or the land of the 
sword. Behold then the origin of military tenures in Europe, and their antiquity 
in opposition to modern writers !" — O' Halloran. 

" Campian, an author of little veracity, would impose upon the world by assert- 
ing that Fion, the brave son of Cumhal, was known by the name of Roanus ; but 
this is either an ignorant mistake, or a signal instance of prejudice in this writer, 
for the father of Cumhal was Frcin More, (the great,) the fourth lineal descendant 
from Nudgadh JYeacht, king of Leinster, and the mother of Fion was Muirn 
Munchaomh, the fair daughter of Thady, the son of JYnagatt, the arch Druid of 
Ireland, in the reign of the monarch Cathaoir the Great. Almhuin, in the province 
of Leinster, was the native county and inheritance of Thady, upon which account 
Fion obtained possession of that district in right of his mother; yet Fion was 
invested with the greater part of the county of Kildare, (then called Formaoilna,) 
by the donation of the king of Leinster. The reason why Fion was the 
general and first commanding officer over the Irish militia, was, because his father 
and grandfather enjoyed the same dignity before him, and had the honor of being 
at the head of these invincible troops ; but upon this account more especially, he 
had the principal command of the standing army, as he was a person of superior 
courage, of great learning and military experience, which accomplishments 
advanced him in the esteem of the soldiery, who thought him worthy to lead 
them. ' ' — Keating. 



220 

indispensable recommendations, also adduce testimonies of possess- 
ing the following requisites, could not be enrolled under the "Sun- 
burst" ensign of the Irish militia.*' His parents, in committing him 
to the ordeal that was to confirm or annul his pretensions, were 
previously compelled to give security that they would not, in case of 
his death, resort to any means of revenge. The novice then was 
given up to the military tribunal, who were invested with powers to 
examine his mental and corporeal qualifications. He was first called 
upon to speak extemporaneously a thousand lines of poetry oa a 
given subject, executing this to the satisfaction of his judges ; he was 
next desired to stand at the distance of nine lidges of land with only 
a shield and a stick for his defence, while nine soldiers threw their 
javelins at him. If he escaped unhurt, the chief judge put a gold 
ring on his finger, and complimented him for his skill and dexterity 
in guarding his person. After having accomplished this, he was 
again called upon to run into a wood with such celerity, as would 
outstrip the swiftest soldier of the militia in pursuit of him. Suc- 
ceeding in this feat of fleetness, only two tasks remained for him to 
perform ; the one required that he should vault over a wall higher 
than his head, and the other, that he must leap into the saddle of a 
war horse, while running at full speed, with his heavy armour on.t 
When all was achieved, the victor was borne in triumph on the 
shoulders of his exulting friends, cheered by the loud plaudits and 
exclamations of the spectators, to his home, where the auspicious 
day was spent in rejoicings and festivities. The Irish militia were 
divided, like the Roman armies, into cohorts, called catlia. Each 
division, or cohort, consisted, according to Dr. Keating, of three 
thousand men, including oflBcers. The company of a captain con- 
tained a hundred soldiers, under him were lieutenants, standard 
bearers, and sergeants. In times of peace their aggregate number 
seldom exceeded nine thousand men. Every thousand of these was 
commanded by a colonel, bearing in Irish the appellation of Comhian 
31ile, or the chief of ten hundred. Each legion was attended by a 
proper number of skilful physicians and experienced surgeons, and 
these were not appointed without undergoing the most rigid exami- 
nation of their talents and proficiency. Consequently, the nation 
and the army had the most unshaken confidence in their experience 
and ability ; indeed, so much so, that it became an adage in Ireland, 
to say of a person dying of an incurable distemper, " Ni thogjisdh 

* The standard of Fingal was designated the " sun-hurst of victories." — Vide 
Haloid's Ossla7i. 

t ■' The reader will judge of tlie propriety of most of these qualifications ; but 
this was not every thing that was required, in order for an admission into this illus- 
trious corps. Every soldier, it is said, before he wasenrolled, was obliged to subscribe 
to the following articles. That if ever he was disposed to marry, he would not con- 
form to the mercenary custom of requiring a portion with his wife ; but without 
regard to her fortune, he would choose a woman for her virtue, her innocence, 
modesty, and good manners: that he would never offer violence to a woman, or 
attempt to ravish her ; and that he would not turn his back, nor refuse to fight 
with nine men of any other nation that should set upon him and offer him violence. 
These were the terms of being a soldier in the militia of Ireland under Fion Mac 
Camhal ; and whilst these were insisted upon and observed, tlie body was invinci- 
ble — a terror to rebels at home, and to enemies abroad." — Dr. Warner. 



221 

Leagha na blifion a," the meaning of which is, the inveteracy of his 
malady could not be conquered or cured, even by the potent skill of 
the doctors of the Irish militia. 

" We likewise find," says O'Halloran, "that each cath had a band 
of music attendant on it, as well as a number of poets to rehearse 
their deeds, and excite them to feats of glory. Thus, in the battle 
of Ventry, when Ossian is hard set, in single combat, the poet Fear- 
gus animates him aloud, and he kills his adversary." When not 
engaged in war, they formed encampments in different parts of the 
kingdom, where, like an armed police, they preserved tranquillity, 
and suppressed sedition.* During the winter season they were 
billeted on the inhabitants ; but during the summer months the 
monarch affbrded them no pay, so that they were obliged to support 
themselves by fishing, hunting, and fowling. " This," writes Dr. 
Warner, " was not only a great ease to the monarch and his sub- 
jects, but it inured the troops to fatigue, preserved them in health 
and vigor, and accustomed them to lie abroad in the field ; and in 
a country which abounded then so much vv'ith venison, fish, and fowl 
as Ireland did, it was no other hardship than was proper to the life 
of soldiers." If we are to judge from the manner in which they 
roasted their animal food, their camp equipage must have been 
indeed very scant3\ Near the stations of their encampments, which 
were always adjoining a shady wood and a clear running stream, 
they dug large pits, into which they threw a layer of red hot stones, 
prepared in great fires for the occasion, over which ti^.ey placed a 
layer of flesh, and again another layer of heated stones, and so on 
in alternation, until the pit was filled up. Traces of these fires, 
which were large and fierce, are every day discovered in Ireland by 
the operatioi}s of the husbandman, who, on turning up the black 
ashes that mark their site with his spade, exclaims, " Fu laclit Fion,''^ 
or the ashes of Fin's fires. When invasion or rebellion menaced 
the safety of the state, the combined quotas of Irish militia, which 
the monarch summoned from the four provinces, amounted, accord^ 
ing to Keating and O'Flaherty, to eighty-four thousand effective 
soldiers. With such a standing army as this, the Irish monarchs 
were justly regarded as the arbitrators of Europe : it was this for-? 
midable force that enabled them so often to subdue Gaul, Albany, 
and Wales. 

What nation, we would ask, could equal us in those days of war, 
chivalry and power, in the glory of arms, or the renown of martial 
exploits ] Can the page of the world's history adduce a parallel of 
military institutions being founded on more excellent regulations 

* " In the Catha Flon tragha, many of these military stations are pointed out, and 
the names of the leaders under Fion Mac Cumhal, who then commanded these 
garrisons. A part of these troops were constantly on service, either in Scotland, 
to oppose the Romans, ^hence our Fin Albanian legions,) or on some continental 
invasion. From the landing of Caesar in Britain to its dereliction by the Romans, 
there was an Irish military force constantly kept up in Albin, (Scotland,) and it 
is for this reason we find that Ciimhal, the father of Fion, as well as Fion himself, 
and his son Ossian, and grandson Oscar, are each called in several of our ancient 
manuscripts, ' Righ Fin Eirin agus Ailing or chiefs of the military of Ireland and 
Scotland." — 0' Halloran. 



2-22 

than those that formed the military code of the Irish militia ? 
Here was a corps of what we miglit term youthful veterans, into 
whose ranks none were admitted, except the intrepid, the tried, and 
the brave ; men whose hearts were strangers to fear, and whose 
souls were armed with enthusiasm, and fortitude. The Macedonian 
phalanx, the Roman legions, or the death-defying guard of the 
emperor Napoleon, in the perfection of their tactics, or the impetu- 
osity of their valor, did not surpass our ancient soldiers.* But it is 
time that we should revert to king Carbre, and the events that led 
to the destructive battle of Gabhra. At this epoch, A. D. 292, Olioll 
Flan-more, the son of Fiacha, who was, as already related, so barba- 
rously murdered by Conla, in the reign of Corraac Mac Art, reigned 
over South Munster with great glory and power. His cousin Mogh- 
corb, the son of Cormac Cas, ruled at the same time the regal 
government of North Munster. The Psalter of Cashel paints the 
characte!" of this prince in the most brilliant colors of encomium. 
Bravery in war, wisdom in legislation, and amiability and generosity 
in the social relations of life, were the exalted virtues that shone out 
in his reputation. Shortly after his accession to the throne of Leath 
Mogha, or North Munster, two of his uncles, who were princes of 
Denmark, besought his assistance to recover from their cousin, the 
king of that country, the hereditary possessions of which he had 
unjustly despoiled them. Yielding to this request, and the entreaties 
of his mother, a Danish princess, he raised a great army, with which 
he embarked himself, and set sail for Denmark. The Danes met 
liim on the coast, and gave him battle. The conflict was terrible, 
but, after a desperate struggle, victory at length declared itself in 
favor of the Irish king ; as the Danish sovereign and his four sons, 
as well as three thousand of the hostile troops, were left dead on the 
field of battle. Moghcorb having by this decisive victory the reins 
of absolute authority over Denmark, put, as it were, into his hands, 
seated his uncles on the throne, as joint kings, and then, after 
collecting spoils in, and exacting a large tribute from the nation, he 
returned to his own dominions, flushed with victory and enriched 
with trophies of conquest. The fame of his gallant achievement 
in Denmark preceded his arrival in Ireland ; it filled every heart in 
Munster and Leinster with pride, joy, and admiration, while it 
inflamed the jealousy and excited the fears of the supreme monarch, 
Carbre. "The glory," says O'Halloran, "of Moghcorb's victory 
extended over all quarters, and was the theme of the bards and anti- 
quarians for many years afterwards." As soon as the royal victor 
was seated in his palace, he ordered a body of his conquering army 
to march to the frontiers of Leinster in order to oppose any attack 

* " It is to the superior courage and discipline of the old Irish troops we may 
ascribe the fact of the Romans not being able to subject Ireland to their arms, as 
they did Great Britain." — Smith's Jlntiquitics of Wales. 

" They (the Irish militia) gained a name, which fame echoed in every quarter of 
Europe ; it struck terror into the hearts of tlieir foes." — Laing. 

" They not only kept their own country free from foreign insults, but also pun- 
ished the invaders of the allies of the Irish monarch ; as they poured their forces 
i«to Gaul, Britain, and the Isle of Man, (the latter for ages a colony of Ireland,) 
jand led on these nations against the Romans." — Dr. Shaw on the Gaelic language. 



223 

which the troops of Carbre might make on that province. This 
warhke movement, the monarch constructed as tantamount to a 
declaration of war against him, and, in consequence, by a decree of 
tlie national estates, Moghcorb was pronounced a rebellious prince. 
It liappened about this juncture that Ossian and his son Oscar, as 
well as several other officers of the Irish militia, partook of a banquet 
given by the king at Tara. Carbre, on this occasion, when inflamed 
with wine, vented his rage against Moghcorb, and in the vehemence 
of his choler, he proceeded to load the memory of Fion Mac Cum- 
hal with bitter reproaches, which had the tendency of stirring up 
the indignation of Ossian and his son, Oscar, who defended the 
reputation of their father with a warmth of spirit, and a boldness of 
language, that roused the mortal ire of the king, who in the efferves- 
cence of his anger, struck the poet-hero, and commanded his guards 
to thrust him and his son out of his palace. Ossian and Oscar, 
infuriated by the contumely, on their departure, loudly expressed, iu 
the hearing of the king and his nobles, their determination of having 
revenge for the degrading insult that was thus offered to them. No 
sooner did they reach the camp of the Irish militia, than they 
pathetically proclaimed the gross indignity with which the king had 
treated them. The army who idolized the warrior-minstrel, highly 
exasperated at the relation of their venerable chief, almost unani- 
mously declared their readiness to avenge his wrongs. The flames 
of disaffiBction being thus kindled, soon spread iu a full blaze through 
the whole encampments of the militia, and, in consequence, more 
than three thousand of these veterans deserted the standard of king 
Carbre, and with Ossian and Oscar at their head, went over to the 
ranks of his enemies. As soon as the news of Ossian's defection 
came to the ears of the monarch, his wrath became boundless, and 
his burning desire of revenge insatiable, for all the furies of resent- 
ment and indignation kindled their devouring fires in his soul. 
Nothing could now avert hostilities or rescue Ireland from the hor- 
rors of a civil war. 

Carbre, with great expedition, collected all the troops that he 
could muster at Tara ; his standard soon waved over the heads of a 
mighty army, consisting of his own legions, and the contingents of 
Connaught and Ulster. The preparations on the other side of the 
coming struggle of life, liberty, and dominion, were accelerated by 
Ossian and Moghcorb, with a celerity that appeared miraculous. 
Hosts, fully armed, and " ready for the fight," sprung up around 
their banners as if called forth by enchantment. This embattled 
array was composed of the allied forces of the two Munsters ; the 
auxiliaries of Leinster, and the Fion Eirion, under the command of 
Ossian and Oscar. In a council of war, held by Moghcorb, who 
was the generahssimo of the potent army, it was resolved that, in 
order to carry the miseries of war into Carbre's territories, the troops 
should penetrate into Meath by forced marches, and strike, if 
possible, a decisive blow before the royal troops would be fully 
concentrated. The plan was carried into efffect with unexampled 
success and rapidity, and the valiant Moghcorb was encamped on 
the plains of Gabhra, within three miles of Tara, before Carbre had 



224 

an intimation of his march from Wexford. An immediate engage- 
ment was rendered inevitable by this skilful and expeditious movement 
of Moghcorb. Carbre drew up his forces with great order and 
precision; himself led on the centre, the king of Connaught, Aodh 
O'Connor, assisted by his two sons, commanded the right wing, and 
Fiachadh, the eldest son of Carbre, the left. The military genius, 
the bravery, and chivalry of Ireland contended for victory in this 
memorable battle. It was the strife of heroes, the murderous 
conflict of men mutually animated with the feelings of fell revenge, 
and the determination of destroying their foes or of nobly dying in 
the attempt. Death and carnage paved the way for annihilation 
through the hostile ranks of the bloody field of Gabhra. Carbre 
made an impetuous charge, and ranks fell before him like the leaves 
of the forest when swept by the autumnal storm. His whole fury 
was directed against the rebellious Irish militia, whom his guards, 
assisted by the Connacians had almost cut to pieces, when Oscar 
came to their aid with a select band, and encountering the king, 
sword in hand, for a moment stopped the overwhelming torrent of 
destruction ; but, after a fierce and furious combat, Carbre killed 
Oscar,* and the Connacians deriving new courage from seeing the 
fall of that hero, made another irresistible assault on the remnant of 
the militia, in which they utterly destroyed it, as the aged Ossian, 
we are told by all our historians, was the only person that survived 
that far famed band of heroes. Moghcorb, at the head of the Clana 
Delbca, or Munster militia, rushed towards the king to have vengeance 
for the death of Oscar, and though Carbre was weak and wounded 
after his combat with the slain son of Ossian, he opposed his adver- 
sary with the most heroic resolution and intrepidity ; but, after a 
brave struggle that developed the prowess of a giant, he fell, with 
his breast perforated by the spear of his foe. The lowering of the 
royal standard was the signal of the monarch's death, and the 
cessation of hostilities between the few exhausted survivors of the 
terrible battle of Gabhra. 

Thus died the gallant monarch, Carbre Liffechaire, a victim to 
ambition and the love of absolute sway. As a soldier and a states- 
man, his character merits the meed of historical eulogy ; but as a 
monarch of Ireland he sacrificed the lives and happiness of his 
people to his own ambition, and chained bleeding justice to the 

* " We have yet extant a relation of the battle of Gabhra, supposed to have 
been told by Ossian, the father of Oscar, to St. Patrick ; but it were absurd to 
suppose that he who was advanced in years at that dreadful conflict, should be 
alive near a century and a half after ! It is visibly of a later date, and intended to 
extol the army of Leinster at the expense of truth; yet as it preserves the names 
and actions of the principal heroes on both sides in this most bloody of all battles, 
it merits attention." — Hallornn. 

Mr. Macpherson, who studied our ancient history attentively, in order to give 
an artificial gloss of truth, and a borrowed air of probability to his barefaced fabri- 
cation of the poems of Ossian, introduces a vague and visionary description of the 
battle of Gabhra, in the first book of" Tcmora," but it is asad jumble of synchron- 
ism, a mass of historical and topographical error, without a beacon or a landmark 
to direct inquiry. Ossian and his nephew, the bard Ronan, are only traditionally 
represented by some of our poets to have lived until ihe coming of our great 
patron saint to Ireland. — P. 



225 

triumphal car of unholy despotism, instead of acting like a patriot- 
king, by assigning her an asylum in the hallowed temple of consti- 
tutional liberty. Out of all the princes that fought in the sanguinary 
battle of Gabhra, only two brought life from the field ; the victor, 
Moghcorb, and the wounded Aodh, king of Connaught ; and these 
two solitary survivors cherishing still the most implacable enmity for 
each other, engaged in a new war, which resulted in the defeat and 
death of the valiant Moghcorb, in less than the period of a year after 
the fatal day of Gabhra. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Milesian Literature. — Ossian, and the ancient Irish Bards. 

As Hume, Macpherson, Sir George Mackenzie, and other unprin- 
cipled revilers, actuated with the most ungenerous prejudice, and 
influenced by the most culpable degree of national vanity, to which 
either truth or liistorical justice has been ever sacrificed, have sedu- 
lously essayed to establish and disseminate throughout Europe, the 
opinion, that the Irish nation had neither letters nor arts, until St. 
Patrick introduced tliem into their country with the Christian dispen- 
sation, we think, we will not only gratify our readers, but illustrate 
our history by devoting a chapter to the review of our ancient litera- 
ture and science. 

A. venal and apostate Irish writer, the late Dr. Ledwich, has, we 
are sorry to say, in the baseness of his subserviency to the English 
traducers of his native land, and in the expectation of obtaining a 
mitre, as the dishonorable reward of his vile calumnies, stooped to 
the degradation of playing second fiddle to our Albanian and Saxon 
libellers, and of becoming the trumpeter of their defamatory false- 
hoods. The recreant maligner has, in consequence, consecrated 
his name, like him that fired the Ephesian temple, to an execrable 
immortality, and proved to the world, by his ignoble perversion of 
truth, that he was 

" Unworthy of the blessings of the brave, — 
Most base in kind, and born to be a slave '." 

The apostacy of Ledwich from the historical orthodoxy of his 
country, filled the Scotch literati, who were still staggering from the 
felling blow which the colossal arm of Dr. Johnson inflicted on their 
arrogant pretension to Ossian, with feelings of pride and exultation. 
His raven notes "came upon their ears," as Macpherson has it, like 
the melody of the nightingale, when heard by a bewildered traveller 
in the woody labyrinth ; his arguments, though glittering in the glare 
and tinsel of sophistry, were pronounced the refined gold of eloquent 
logic ; and his assertions, though blemished by the stains of moral 
turpitude, were exhibited in the deceitful mirror of Scotch pliilosophy, 
as the inspired divinations of the oracles of unimpeachable candor. 
29 



- . 226 . 

He was enrolled among the champions who fought the battles of 
Scottish veracity, and numbered in the register of inflated eulogium, 
as the gifted and candid historian, on whose beaming mind the 
historical muse poured the milder influence of her auspicious 
irradiation- 
After he had published what he called the " Antiquities of Ireland," 
every press in Scotland was employed in multiplying editions of a 
work, which the Scots regarded as the expiatory altars for the immo- 
lation of Irish history, and records, as well as a lasting monument 
reared up by the penitent and atoning genius of an Irish annalist, to 
attest the fact of Ossiau being a native of Caledonia ! 

Ledwich sets out in his feeble attack against the historians of his 
country, on his Quixotic crusade, by making the following rather 
feeble and neutralized show of hostilities. 

" When we review the remote histories of England, Scotland, and 
Ireland, and find names and facts delivered with unhesitating confi- 
dence and chronological accuracy, it seems at first an unreasonable 
degree of scepticism to v/ithhold our assent from them, or question 
their authority. But minuter inquiry satisfactorily evinces them to 
be but specious delusions, and some of the numberless vagaries of 
the human mind." 

Here, then, the spiritless deserter from his country's phalanx, has 
not the hardihood to say, that the chart of Irish history is not marked 
with chronology, and harmonious arrangement of facts. Here are 
shining landmarks that cannot be removed, and rocky pillars of 
authenticity, surviving the ruin of ages, which apostate Irish scepti- 
cism, or preposterous Scotch vanity, cannot subvert or annihilate. 
The species of vague and speculative conjecture, with which the 
doctor has assailed our annals, is quite impotent ; — his battery stands 
on a quagmire — it shakes while its arrows are hurled at the rock- 
sustained citadel of Erin's recorded story. Dr. Ledwich allows that, 
we have chronology, " and facts delivered with unhesitating confi- 
dence," and yet, though our annals rear their proud dome on so 
immutable and indestructible a basis, his " unreasonable scepticism" 
could not be brought to consider it a solid and stable foundation ! 
But there are men, clinging so tenaciously to their own favorite 
opinions, and rendered so impregnably obstinate in the entrenchments 
of pride, conceit, and interest, that it is impossible to make them 
recede from apparent error. Burke emphatically illustrates, and 
shows the absurd tendency of this headstrong species of vulgar 
obstinacy. " I am satisfied," says he, " that a mind which has no 
restraint from a sense of its own weakness, may very plausibly 
attack every thing the most excellent and venerable, — that it would 
not be difficult to criticise the creation itself, and that if we were to 
examine the divine fabrics by our ideas of reason and fitness, we 
might make the wisdom and power of God in his creation appear to 
many no better than foolishness. There is an air of plausibility 
which accompanies vulgar reasonings and notions taken from the 
beaten circle of ordinary experience, that is admirably suited to the 
narrow capacities of some, and to the laziness of others ;" — " for," 
says Isocrates, " it is far more easy to maintain a wrong cause, and 



227 

to support paradoxical opinions to the satisfaction of a common 
auditory, than to estabhsh a doubtful truth by solid and conclusive 
arguments." The credit that so magnetically attaches itself to the 
early period of our history, does not entirely depend on the veracity 
of the Milesian historians ; for they, it is true, recorded the history 
of their predecessors, as they had received it from themselves ; and 
instead of adopting that barbarous policy which degrades the annals 
of the Romans, Saxons, Saracens, and other victorious nations — 
instead, we say, of destroying the written, or suppressing the tradi- 
tional accounts for which they had been indebted to the conquered 
inhabitants, they assiduously recorded them with that industry, and 
with that integrity which characterize their own annals for many 
succeeding ages. We do not, however, deny the fact of the Milesian 
historians having a fondness of embellishing their narratives with 
the borrowed graces of fiction and of romance, as it must be 
remembered, that the first recorders of national annals are bards and 
patriots, who wish to extol in the exaggeration of patriotism and the 
luxuriance of poetry, the deeds of their ancestors : consequently it 
was not easy to divest themselves of the passion of ornamenting 
truth, and clothing its naked simplicitly in the alien robes of fancy 
and hyperbolical decorations. 

" The want of literary memorials," * continues Ledwich, " created 
an impenetrable obscurity, which every attempt to deduce the origin 
of nations or detail early events, was unable to penetrate or dispel. 
How, then, were national honor, and high-born ancestry, the love 
of which is most conspicuous and prominent in a rude people, to be 
supported ? The answer is, by poetic tales and bardic inventions, 
—and, hence we find the wild and naked German sang the praises 
of his great progenitor, Tuisco ; the Highlander of Scotland, the 
exploits of Cuchullen ; and the Hibei-uian, the wonderful peregrina- 
tions of Milesius.^^ 

Dr. Ledwich imagined, we presume, that he would have prostrated 
all our pretensions to high and illustrious antiquity by this sweeping 
charge — a charge which, though ridiculous and vague, did not origi- 
nate with him, as Buchanan, Blair, and Sir George Mackenzie, have 
taunted us with it often ; while English prejudice, ever anxious to 
seize on any tale discreditable to Ireland, loudly trumpeted forth the 
allegation of our " want of literary memorials.'''' Indeed, every 
thinking person knows that the historian who cannot find authenti- 
cated materials and attested records to weave into the web of 
historic narrative, must of necessity resort to the stores of conjecture 
to supply the deficiency. 

The question and answer that succeed, have in them nothing 

* " The Irish can lay a higher claim to antiquity than any other nation in 
Europe. Let their history be tried in two ways, in which all historical systems 
must be tried, — whether it is consistent with probability, and whether it is sup- 
ported by such evidence as it is reasonable to expect, I presume to think it will 
stand the test. For as the Jews, even before they had the history of Moses, and 
before letters were invented, found ways to preserve their genealogies, and many 
of their chief actions, down from Adam, why should it be thought incredible that 
the Irish, who were an observing people, should carry their history above thirteen 
hundred years before Christ, which is not half the way up to the beginning of 
heathen history." — Dr. Warner. 



228 

more original than the trite observation of our alleged want of 
" literary memorials." But let us see what the doctor has so sagely 
concluded from his hypothetical premises. We have already 
observed that the drift of the doctor's remarks on the fabulous heroes 
of the Germans — of the Highlanders, and of the Hibernians, was 
borrowed from other writers, who have assailed in vain the fortress 
of our historical system ; but to himself we may fairly attribute the 
inconsistency and dogmatic assurance of the conclusion, which he 
has so unwarrantably and so illogically drawn from the unsupported 
assertions of the Albanian historians. We indeed grant that many 
nations in Europe, for want of "literary memorials," have had 
recourse to poetic fiction to raise materials for building up a 
ckimerical monument of " national honor and high-born ancestry." 
But before the doctor classed his native country among the nations 
that were, thus, destitute of written evidences of remote antiquity, 
he should have satisfactorily proved that Ireland was not possessed 
of real, authenticated, and verified memorials of her ancient refine- 
ment in civilization, of her glory in arms, and cff her illumination 
and proficiency in letters and arts. 

To deny a nation the use of letters, is to sap the very pillars that 
sustain her history, and to extinguish the lights by which posterity 
might read her records of the martial exploits of her heroes, and the 
achievements of her literary genius in the fields of science and 
philosophy. It were as fruitless a task for Dr. Ledwich to prove 
Julius Csesar an imaginary hero, who was cast in the mould of poetic 
fiction, as to convince any one acquainted with Irish history, that 
such a person as our great ancestor, Milesius, never existed. Bishop 
Hutchinson, Dr. Shaw, and the late able and erudite antiquarian, 
Mr. P. M'Elligott, of Limerick, have abundantly proved that the 
cavils of the doctor against our historical system were impotent, and 
that a man like him, utterly ignorant of the Irish language, was 
absolutely incompetent to shake its immoveable basis, or cast clouds 
of obscurity over the bright horizon of Milesian antiquities. The 
doctor's reasoning sets every rule of Locke at reckless defiance ; 
for he certainly should not have taken the asserted want of memo- 
rials as if granted, nor have argued from it as if it had been conceded 
as an admitted principle, especially as he had not yet proved by a 
" minute inquiry" the unfounded reproach of our destitution of lite- 
rary memorials. It was indeed a gigantic stride — a resolute onset 
in Dr. Ledwich, in his attack on the history of his country, to occupy 
at once a bold position, and assume that ior granted, which all the 
powerful labors of antiquarian research and historical investigation 
have hitherto been unable to prove. But presumption is ever the 
stronghold of futile and unsupported argument. Bold and arrogant 
assertions are the weapons with which sophistry combats in the lists 
of controversy. Perhaps that the doctor concurred in the opinion 
of Bacon, that "boldness in critical cases, often eff°ects what legiti- 
mate talent would fail to accomplish ; yet boldness is a child of 
ignorance and baseness ; but nevertheless, it doth fascinate and 
bind hand and foot those that are either shallow in judgment or 
weak in courage ;— yea, and prevaileth with wise men at weak times." 



229 

The ignoble impugner of our historical creed, after endeavoring 
to prepossess the mind of his reader with a strong prejudice against 
"bardic fictions and unfounded tradition," proceeds, through pages 
of ftdse deductions and incoherent arguments, to exhibit the 
legendary character of our antiquities; but instead of the ingenious 
investigation or the lucidity of the boasted " minute inquiry'''' with 
which he promised to illuminate the obscurity of our recorded story, 
he only seduced his readers, by a rush-light of elucidation, into the 
dark mazy catacombs of error and sophistry. 

Dr. Ledvvich was certainly a learned man in classical and English 
literature, but he was eminently devoid of the great attributes of an 
impartial historian — candor and integrity of principle. The ambition 
of wielding a prelate's crosier, and of Avearing an episcopal miti-e, 
rendered his patriotism frigid, and his honor a panderer to his 
passion. Aware of his own incapacity to confute the powerful 
arguments m.arshalled under the banners of our ancient historians, 
by Usher, Ware, Vallancey, O'Connor, and Dr. Warner, he sum- 
moned to his aid Dr. Macpherson, and placed him in the van ground 
of his controversial warfare with the literary champions of Ireland. 
After deriding our claims to an eastern origin, he launches into an 
extravagant panegyric on the abilities of the fabricator of the ^oems 
of Ossian. "This learned and ingenious writer," (Macpherson,) 
adds he, "has carefully examined, and fully confuted the notion of 
the Hispanian extraction of the Irish." But why has not the national 
traducer quoted some of the arguments which this "learned and 
ingenious writer" made use of to controvert and confute our well- 
founded notion of Milesian descent. We know, however, the 
borrowed arguments employed by Dr. Ledwich never made a prose- 
lyte to his historical heresy, nor did they bring an acquisition of 
strength to the silly attempts made by Macpherson to overthrow the 
credit of our annals, in order to forge a pretended antiquity for his 
own country. But Dr. Johnson's potent pen, like the wand of a 
magician, scattered the Utopian fabric of Macpherson into dust, and 
plucked the stolen laurel from the brows of Caledonia, and restored 
it to the wreath of Erin ; while other accomplished writers have 
come forth, arrayed in the armour of truth and justice, and over-» 
whelmed the conclusions of the cavilling Dr. Ledwich. 

Honest Scottish writers, such as Laing, Pinkerton, and the acute 
and classical Jeffrey, have pronounced the defence of our history 
and antiquities by Shaw, Hutchinson, Bernard, O'Connor, Nicholson, 
and Lanagan, as conclusive, convincing, and irrefutable. The doc- 
tor's opposition to the authenticity of our annals, pitted itself on ten 
or a dozen of garbled quotations from several of our ancient histo- 
rians, whom he sought to represent as dealers in fiction and poetic 
invention. We, indeed, have uniformly in the pages of this history 
admitted that a portion of fable, introduced for moral purposes, has 
been blended with a relation of facts in the composition of our 
annals. We think, however, that the poetic coloring which has been 
thus used to ornament the narratives of the Irish annalists, rather 
tends to strengthen the authenticity of their relations, than to aflford 
grounds for the charge brought against them by foreign writers, of 
being fabricated in later times. 



230 • 

When the doctor's book, inappropriately entitled '^ IrisJi Antiqui- 
ties,^^ was published, the editors of an Analytical, Critical and 
Monthly review, extolled it with the most fulsome encomiums ; not 
for its literary merit, not for the depth of its research, nor the com- 
prehensiveness of its details, but for the efforts made by its author to 
depreciate the credit of our Irish historians, and sink their records 
of the primeval greatness and glory of ancient Ireland into disre- 
pute and disregard. But ^yere these reviewers competent to form 
an accurate estimate of the antiquities of a nation with whose 
original language they were wholly unacquainted ? These men 
might as well attempt to review the philosophy of Confucius without 
the slightest knowledge of the Chinese, — they might, in fact, with 
better pretensions to truth, undertake to explain all those phenomena 
of nature, whose causes have as yet baffled the inquiry of science, 
and probably ever will, escape the acumen of human penetration, as 
to presume to offer a dissertation on the literature and antiquities of 
Ireland. Dr. Ledwich, having no knowledge of the Irish language, 
being ignorant of the characters of its very alphabet, and, conse- 
quently, of the ideas which they represent, could not by possibility 
illustrate the subject on which he has so dogmatically descanted, 
with any comprehension beyond the narrow space of hypothetical 
assertion and indefinite arguments. If this shallow species of contro- 
versy should be admitted into the field of disputation, it would be an 
easy task for any doubting sciolist to destroy the sacredness of all 
truth whatever, whether in physics, ethics, or religion. Might not a 
man with ordinary talents and intelligence argue, at least with as 
strong a claim to credibility as Dr. Ledwich, that the history of the 
Jewish nation is entirely a romance, the visionary creations of 
Hebrew bards, and that as no other country in the world has pre- 
served memorials of its early history, we ought to conclude that the 
events related in holy writ owe their existence to the inventions of 
imagination 1 But though it be uncertain when an event occurred, 
does it follow that it never happened 7 This kind of corollary was 
uniformly resorted to by Dr. Ledwich to help out his friend Mac- 
pherson from the labyrinths of his untenable paradoxes. 

It is conceded by general experience, that many occurrences are 
narrated in history to which no chronology has assigned a particular 
date, and yet but few doubt the truth of their having actually taken 
place. Who can tell the day and hour that the world was created ? 
Moses records the event, and we give credence to his history. It is 
such a frivolous objection as this which is urged by the denouncers 
of Irish antiquities ; such are the grounds of reproaching us with 
being " pertinacibus defenders of palpable fictions." Dr. Keating, 
who has given more of the fabulous part of Irish history than any 
other of our annalists, relates them for the purpose of exhibiting the 
manners, customs, habits, and opinions of the nation, and thus they 
served to shed the light of illustration on positive events, and to give 
expression to the sentiments of the age ; so that, to cite the opinion 
of an intelligent historical writer, (M'Dermott,) "it is, perhaps, to 
the fabulous portion of ancient history we are chiefly indebted for 
our most correct ideas of the manners and peculiarities of our remote 
^ancestors." 



, 231 

The writings of Dr. Ledwich impress us with the belief that he 
was a most dogmatic and supercilious disputant ; and he seems to 
have spoken with most pertinacious confidence where he was most 
involved in the obscurity of error. In the fury of his zeal to invali- 
date the authenticity of our antiquities, and to immure them in the 
tomb of historical scepticism, he had not the generous candor of 
telling his readers that many literary memorials to prove that we 
derived letters and science from our Milesian ancestors, are still in 
existence. It seemed to be the object of the unpatriotic writer to 
have extinguished the beacons of history — to subvert the veritable 
structure of our reverenced annals — to impeach the testimony of the 
hoary witnesses of ages, and to destroy a time-honored system, by 
ingulfing in an abyss of oblivion all the sacred monuments of Mile- 
sian renown. His unsocial and misanthropic theory was a fearful 
monster, which, having no progeny of its own, only watched with 
malicious envy an opportunity of destroying the oifspring of others. 

Giving credit to the calumnious assertions of Bolundius, which 
endeavored to persuade Europe that we had no letters or science 
before the mission of St. Patrick, he did not take the trouble of 
ascertaining whether he had " literary memorials. ^^ Had he read 
Jocelyn he might have learned that St. Patrick was amazed on 
hearing the eloquent disputations of the Druids, and the inspired 
stanzas of the Irish Laureate, Dubthagh.* Among the four hundred 
volumes, exquisitely written in illuminated Phoenician characters, 
which the zealous saint committed to the flames at Tara, in order to 
exterminate paganism, were two large tomes, narrating the migra- 
tions of the Milesians, of which Irial, the prophet monarch of Ireland, 
who reigned, A. M. 3025, was the author. The autograph writings 
of Ollamh Fodhla, of Cormac O'Con, the Solon of Ireland, of Ossian, 
and of innumerable other regal and druidical authors, unfortunately 
for our ancient literature, shared the same devouring fate. The famed 

* " This bard, whom his countrymen designated " the light of wisdom and the 
soul of song," is said to have first set the example, and to have bent the knee -in 
obeisance to the holy missionary, St. Patrick; and Jocelyn, after lauding the 
pathetic beauty of some of his poems, which are still preserved among the relics 
that Danish and English invaders left us, relates that the royal Laureate of 
Lug hair, OUT first Christian monarch, exercised his talents in hymns of praise to 
the most high God, in place of celebrating, as before, the vain and transient glory 
of temporal princes." — Vide O' Flanagan' s Essays on Irish Literature. 

" St. Patrick found the Irish Druids eminently conversant with Greek litera- 
ture." — Camhden. 

" It is to our great apostle we are indebted for the Roman alphabet ; for prior to 
his coming, our ancestors used but sixteen letters, and wrote from right to left, 
according to the eastern usage introduced by Cadmus." — Transactions of the 
Gaelic Society. 

" The apostle was very desirous to introduce the Roman language among a 
people whom he succeeded in converting ; and Colgan asserts that the saint taught 
Latin to Dubthaghihe great poet, who, in return, instructed the saint how to speak 
the Irish. Many of the manuscripts of our ancient Laureate are still preserved 
as venerable relics of our ancient literature in Connaught." — Bishop Molloy. 

" Caesar, in speaking of the Druids of Ireland, informs us that they were men 
of letters — that they knew philosophy, theology, and the other sciences ; and that 
such of the Gauls as wished to be perfected in the knowledge of their mysteries, 
travelled to Hibernia for instruction." — Critical Essay on tlie Scote-Milesian An- 
tiquities. Dublin, 1811. 



232 

Leahhar Lcacain, which was written in the first century, was carried 
from Trinity college, Dublin, by James II. and deposited in the 
archives of the Irish University in Paris.* This is a complete 
history of the laws and genealogies of Ireland for many ages. King 
Cormac, our great legislator's work on the duties of a king, is still 
preserved in the library of the late duke of Chandos, where it was 
deposited by the celebrated lord Clarendon. The translator of 
Keating states, in his preface, "that he saw in the library of Trinity 
College, among other manuscripts, a volume in folio, written on 
parchment, made from the bark of an oak tree, centuries before St. 
Patrick was born. 

These and many other existing monuments, of whose reality and 
antiquity there can be no rational doubt entertained by any mind 
unwarped and unbiassed by the dark dogmas of such apostate 
Pyrrhonism, as perverted the ,better judgment and debased the Irish 
feelings of Dr. Ledwich.t 

It was from these creditable authorities, and various other docu- 
ments, which existed until the irruption of Danish barbarians into 
our fair clime, and the subjugation of our ancestors by English 
conquest, effected by treachery, that all our early historians borrowed 
the materials of their details, and the irrefragable proofs of our 
eastern extraction. The Huns of Elizabeth and the ruthless Goths 
of Cromwell demolished our abbeys, and the vast literary treasures 
they contained. J For, as we have already sufficiently shown in the 
course of this history, there was no nation in Europe, had such a 
rich repository of literary monuments as Ireland before the Danish 
and Saxon invasions, or where poets, philosophers, and legislators 
wrote so voluminously and elaborately, as Bede, Fordun, Cambden, 
Stillingfleet, Warner, Whitaker, and Laing, with a degree of com- 
mendable liberality, admit. Even Sir George Mackenzie, who was 

* " The late Mr. Charles O'Connor had a copy of the Book of Lecan in his 
possession, the accounts in which he compared with Newton's Chronology, and 
found their dates to accord most particularly. Another copy of this celebrated 
book was presented by the Rt. Rev. Dr. M'Kenna, bishop of Cloyne, to Dr. 
O'Halloran, which he acknowledged in the preliminary discourse to his history of 
Ireland. The Abbe M'Geoghegan, who wrote his history of Ireland in Paris, tells 
us that a copy of the same book was carefully preserved in the Vatican." — w3 
Vindication of the Early History of Ireland. 

t " In the annals of IJlster are copied several poems of Forchearn Mac Deag 
and Asthirne Mac Amhuas, who were the bards of Connor, king of Ulster, a cen- 
tury before the Christian era." — Hutchinson. 

" Our history and poetry, our laws and philosophy, have been deranged and dis- 
persed, shattered and mutilated, and nearly consigned to contemptuous neglect and 
annihilating oblivion. Nothing now remains of our native literature but the 
mutilated, yet interesting fragments of the poetry and wisdom of a singularly 
reflecting people. Thus the venerable fabric of our ancient dignity had been 
hurled down a dreadful precipice by the storms of persecution and adversity; and 
the only consolation left is, that it appears affecting and majestic, even in ruin !" — 
Ohservutions on the Irish Langxi.age. 

X " Elizabeth gave orders to her officers to destroy every Irish manuscript they 
could find. The Milesians of Ireland enjoyed their own laws and customs until 
the reign of James I., when the Brehon system of jurisprudence was suppressed, 
and the English code established. Then for the first time the Gaelic ceased to be 
spoken by the chiefs of families, and at court ; and English schools were erected 
with strict injunctions that the vernacular language should no longer be spoken in 
the seminaries." — Vide Shaio's Gaelic Gravimar. Edinburgh, 1778. 



233 

for a while the resolute champion of Macphersoft's literary imposi- 
tions, candidly admitted, in his '■'■Defeiice of the royalline of Scotland,'''' 
published, A. D. 1685, that he had to resort to Irish history for facts, 
and that he fortunately procured a manuscript which belonged to 
tlie abbey of Hi Columbkille. " Since I began this work," says he, 
" there fell into my hands a very ancient manuscript of the abbej 
of Hi Columbkille, written by the Irish monarch, Carbre Liffca- 
chairc,* who reigned about six generations before St. Patrick visited 
Ireland. This manuscript gives an exact account of the Irish kings, 
whence I must conclude that the Irish had letters and manuscripts 
before the days of St. Patrick, and that they did not borrow, as 
many writers have unjustly stated, their alphabet from that mission- 
ary."! But we trust we have adduced ample reasons to prove the 
unfounded arguments and puerile objections urged by Dr. Ledvvich, 
through a spirit of apostacy, and the desire of an episcopal stall, 
against the history and antiquities of his country. Influenced by 
his ambition, and assuming a composed and philosophic aspect, to 
win over a certain class of readers for his doctrine, to whom the 
calumny of Ireland was a literary treat, he brought into action all 
the industry of ingenious bigotry, to inculcate the opinion, that our 
pretended extraction from the Milesians originated in the general 
diffusion of " oriental fabling.'^ 

So much for the late Dr. Ledwich ; — let us now proceed to say a 
few words to his friend and prototype. Dr. James Macpherson, the 
pretended translator of the poems of Ossian. The attacks of Dr. 
Macpherson have been already so signally and decisively repelled 
by able Irish writers, that it would be like " fighting the Ossianic 
battles over again," and slaying the vanquished, to array a defence 
against them now. A few observations may, however, be bestowed 
on the history of Ossian. In his preface to the history of Great 
Britain and Ireland, the Scottish doctor states, "that Spain, the 
centre of oriental fabling, always enjoyed the celebrity above that of 
any other European country ; the Irish, therefore, esteemed it a 
matter of the greatest importance to exhibit a clear deduction of 
their ancestors from thence, and which their native writers, in every 
age, have zealousy inculcated as a fact." We do not know by what 
geographical rule, the Scotch Ossian could place in his Utopian map, 
Spain, the most westerly part of Europe, in the centre of " oriental 
fabling;" nor have we yet learned from all we have read, that the 
Spanish nation was ever so distinguished, either by the lustre of 
arms, the feats of chivalry, or the renown of poetry, as Greece and 
Rome. It is also a groundless assertion to say "that the Irish 
esteemed it a matter of great importance to deduce their ancestors 

* See the last chapter of our history. 

t " Nothing could be so absurd or so contrary to the evidences of facts prodiiced 
by old Irish manuscripts, as the assertion that the Irish had no alphabet until the 
period of St. Patrick's arrival." — Whitaker. 

" Raymond has incontestably proved that the Irish characters were those used 
by the ancient Celtic nation. He has adduced such testimonies of the identity of 
the old Celtic and Irish languages, as must irrefragably answer all the objections 
which Innis, Macpherson, and other writers have made to the early use of letters 
in Ireland." — Warner. 
30 



234 

from thence." Now it is indeed to be wondered at, that Dr. 
Macpherson, who boasted of having carefully studied our annals, 
should be so ignorant of the claim which we always, from the earli- 
est epoch of our history, steadily maintained and set up — that of 
being the legitimate descendants of Milesius, a Scythian prince, as 
will appear to those who may peruse the beginning of this history. 
Dr. Macpherson might as well affirm, that we claimed our origin 
from Egypt or Crete, where the Milesians were sojourners, as from 
Spain. 

The doctor and the most noted of his literary countrymen, put 
their utmost skill and ingenuity to work, in order to stamp the signet 
of credibility on his version of Ossian. To produce an impression 
throughout Europe, that the Irish historians were mere dreaming 
romances, was the plan designed by the national vanity of Macken- 
zie, Blair, Macpherson and Hume, who, in their unwearied atten- 
tion, wrote countless essays and dissertations, for the purpose of 
stripping our ancient testimonies of the respect and credit, which 
revolving ages had so deeply impressed upon them. A Utopian 
kingdom, called Selma, was discovered by the telescope of invention 
in the highlands, and the waves of Scotland miraculously cast upon 
the shore, to the great joy of the natives, a king Fingal, ready 
crowned and armed. Here was a new paradise opened for the 
recreation of Albanian imagination, and the brave Fion Mac Cumhal, 
the gallant leader of the Irish militia, who so often protected the 
highlanders from the ravages of the Romans, underwent as strange 
a metamorphose as any in Ovid, by being transformed into a Cale- 
donian monarch. 

Ossian, the Irish bard, the son of Fion, whose harp breathed the 
tones of his native music, to inspire the Caledonians with courage, 
and whose hands wielded the spear and the target in the martial 
conflict, against the Roman enemy, was claimed as a sturdy high- 
lander, and as such, verses and songs attributed to him that never 
emanated from his mind.* 

* " The late amiable, venerable, and Ret. Dr. Shaw, of Shelvy parsonage, near 
Bristol, — ' the sturdy moralist, who loved truth better than Scotland,' however 
strongly attached to his nativity', proved, from personal knowledge, that the Post 
original of Mr. Macpherson's poems, is a modern fabrication ; as well as that the 
list of Gaelic manuscripts, given at the end of the gorgeous publication, were Irish, 
not Mhcmian." — Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Dublin. 

" That eminently ingenious and accomplished scholar, the late Bishop of Clan- 
fert, (Dr. Young,) was warmly affected towards Irish literature. In the summer 
of 1784, he traversed the highlands in search of Gaelic poetry. He was directed 
to a bookseller in Perth, with whom, it was asserted that the original of Macpher- 
son's poems were deposited. On inspection, however, it proved to be an ancient 
Irish manuscript on vellum, containing historic tracts, and several genealogies ; 
particularly one of the illustrious house of O'Neil. The bishop, while in Scotland, 
wrote a letter to a friend in Dublin, from which we take the following extract. 
' The Irish language isspoken with considerable accuracy, in many parts of the 
highlands of modern Scotland. This I conclude from having conversed with 
several gentlemen of this country with the greatest ease and familiarity ; and I 
must add that none of them refused an immediate and unequivocal acknowledge- 
ment that the Gaelic of Scotland was a dialect of the mother tongue of Ireland; 
as well as the highland Scots were the descendants of a colony from the mother 
country. They readily assented to the dislionorable fabrication of Macpherson, 
and declared that they knew from undisputed tradition, that Fingal, Ossian, Oscar, 
and all the other Finnian heroes were Irishmen.' " — Ibid. 



235 

In fabricating a system of antiquities for his country, and in 
peopling it with a race of heroes of ideal creation, he had to draw 
largely upon his inventive genius, for he had to create new scenes, 
build up the palace of Selma — embank the lake of Cona — provide 
wives and mistresses for his Fingalian heroes — forge chains of cir- 
cumstances — bring together men and their exploits who lived at 
distant periods, and to make the established and sacred principles 
of truth, a basis for the fanciful pillars on which the imposing fabric 
of his literary imposture rested. But the magic pile has vanished, 
and critical justice has torn off the mask that for a while hid the false 
divinity of Scottish pretension : imposition has withered before the 
indignant glance of patriotic investigation ; and equitable justice has 
restored the original right of Ireland, in compliance with the request 
of unprejudiced judgment. There is not now a literary Scotchman 
in existence, would have the arrogance of claiming our Ossian for a 
countryman ; and but few that would have the hardihood to assert, 
in the face of attested history, in the teeth of an incontrovertible 
testimony, corroborated by contemporaneous evidence, confirmed by 
universal tradition, and strengthened by the concurring circum- 
stances of ages, that our annals and antiquities are the creation of 
poetic fancy, or the romantic fables of monkish imagination. Away 
then with that iniquitous system of historical fabrication ! which, to 
accommodate itself to the vanity and prejudices of one nation, 
would despoil another of the trophies of ages, and sacrilegiously rob 
the sacred shrines of Irish piety of their antique jewels, and the 
niches of Irish fame of the statues of our kings, princes, bards, war- 
riors, senacMes,* and legislators. The Scotch writers of the last 
century, (those of the present, ashamed of the deeds of their prede- 
cessors, have prudently renounced their historical errors!) in their 
predatory warfare against their venerable mother country, not only 
plundered the temple of the Irish muses of the most splendid offer- 
ings of Irish genius, but in their insatiate rapacity, ravished the very 
harp of Erin from the inspired hands of music, as she wept in the 
ruins of Tara, tore from it some of the sweetest strings that ever, 
under the magic and lightning-tipped fingers of our O'Brodin, 
O'Regan, M'Cabe, M'Dairy or Carolan, vibrated with the thrilling 
tones of the melody of the passions and the heart ! Has not the 
voice of literary Europe reproached them for national vanity, in 
pluming themselves with borrowed feathers, clandestinely plucked 
from the wings of the Irish songsters ; and for clothing the meagre, 
deformed, and decayed skeleton of their history, in garments stolen 
from the wardrobes of our learned antiquarians and annalists. 
Macpherson was certainly a poet whose talents had graduated in the 
Parnassian college, and, while we deny him the honor due to candor, 
we cordially concede that those poems, (called Ossian's) to which 
we award him the full credit of having framed and fabricated, from 
fragments of Irish poetry, possess traces of genius that would have 
reflected credit on even the best epic of Homer. No writer of 

* " The Senachies, (or antiquarian sages,) were men informed in every liberal art 
and science known in their time. They were poets by name, but philosophers in 
practice." — Lynch. 



236 

judgment can question Macpherson's intellectual endowments, the 
expansive range of his imagination, nor his acknowledged skill in 
arraying epic and heroic themes in the most graceful drapery of 
pathetic poetry. But why was he so vain, selfish, and silly, as to 
tlirust his false Ossian on puhlic credulity 1 AVhy did he make such 
an obstinate stand in the field of imposture ? or with his fungus 
sponge, and leaden truncheon, essay to efiTace from the adamantine 
pillar of our antiquarian renown, the indelible inscription which the 
immortalizing chisel of History insculptured upon them, for the 
admiration and instruction of future ages? 

By his own admission, it appears that the modern Scotia was for 
the period of eleven hundred years without literary records; but at 
length the sun beams of knowledge, as if by enchantment, dawned 
upon the torpid intellects of the Scots, and the redoubtable James 
Macpherson, like a midnight sexton, came forth from the moulder- 
ing tomb of Ossian, waving the sepulchral torches, which he rav- 
ished from the bard's bier, to illuminate the perennial darkness in 
which the antiquities of Albania had been shrouded for eleven centu- 
ries.* When we come to treat of St. Patrick, we shall advert to the 
preceding subject again. As to the charge of our having no know- 
ledge of the fine arts before the era of the mission of our patron 
saint, it is only necessary to observe, in its refutation, tliat the 
remains of our druidical temples, display majestic and imposing 
architecture, — the arabesque ceilings of our ancient caves attest our 
skill in mosaic and fresco painting, and the crowns, shields, and 
amulets of our heathen kings and warriors, proclaim to the world, 
that the pagan sculptors of Ireland were capable of the most exquisite 
execution of the Grecian art. 



CHAPTER XXXH. 



The grandsons of Mac Con are elected joint Monarchs of Ireland. — Their reign and 
death. — Olioll, king of Munster. — Fiacha, the son of Carhre, is raised to the 
throne. — Is killed in battle by his nepheios, the Collas. — Destructioji of the -palace 
of Emania, A. D. 336. — Jiccession of the elder Colla to the throne. — He is deposed 
and succeeded by Muircadhach. 

The monarch Carbre having fallen in the battle of Gabhra,t as 
related in a former chapter, the national estates assembled at Tara, 
and elected the two Fiatliachs joint sovereigns of Ireland. But 
scarcely had these princes, who sveie. the grandsons of Mac Con, of 

* •' 1 believe that our ancestors for eleven hundred years believed themselves 
the descendants of the Irish Scots, and that the authorities of Bede and Buchanan, 
tended to support this erroneous, but popular opinion. Those poems, (Ossian's,) 
were preserved by oral tradition in the highlands for fifteen hundred years. The 
vi^hole system of Irish history was fabricated by the monks in the sixth century, 
when, it appears, monkish learning, religious virtues, and ascetic austerities flour- 
ished in Ireland." — Vide Introduction to Ossian, by James Macpherson, Esq. 

t Gabhra, the scene of this battle, is a town land in the county of Meath. 



237 

the house of Ith, been invested with regal power, than envy and 
jealousy severed the bonds of fraternal affection, and filled their 
hearts with feelings of inveterate resentment and abhorrence against 
each other. Their irreconcilable diflerence, could, therefore, only 
be terminated and decided by the force of arms. In the rencounter 
which ensued they both were killed. Their death called forth Fiacha 
Streabhthuine,* the son of the monarch Carbre, as a candidate 
for the sovereignty of Ireland. The national estates raised him to 
the summit of his wishes. Valiant and enlightened, he was admira- 
bly qualified to shed lustre on the throne, and confer happiness on 
the nation. 

Shortly after his accession to supreme power, he appointed his 
brother Eochaidh, commander-in-chief of the Irish army, into which 
he introduced the most efi"ective species of discipline. He embodied 
a legion of troops, composed of the flower of the Irish youth, which, 
in honor of his great ancestor, king Cormac Cas, he designated Dal- 
gas. This body of warlike heroes, who were finally annihilated at 
the battle of Clontarf, were for ages distinguished for their gallantry 
and chivalrous exploits, seemed as if animated with the spirit of their 
renowned predecessors, the Irish Militia.f The monarch's Queen 
was a daughter of the Prince of Wales; and the wife of Eochaidh 
was Oilean, princess royal of Scotland, a woman whose beauty was 
only surpassed by her ambition. By this lady Eochaidh became the 
father of the three famous Collas, whose deeds are such gloiious 
themes for historical eulogium, as well as for the epic and dramatic 
muses. 

Some of the most illustrious names that illuminate Irish history, 
were descended from the brave Collas. The eldest brother, who 
was distinguished by the appellation of Uas, or the noble, was the 
common ancestor of the Mac Donnels, both of Ireland and Scotland, 
as well as of the Doules, Mac Roney's, O'Sheehies, O'Kierins, 
O'Gniefes, and other septs of high repute in the Milesian genealogi- 
cal records. To the second brother, called Colla Crioch, the families 
of the Mac Mahon, of Monaghan, the Mac Guires, of Fermanagh, 
the O'Hanlon's, of Louth, as well as the O'Carrol's, princes of 
Urial| or Orgial, and the Mac Anaigh, Mac Manus, Mac Egan, 
O'Kelly, O'Madden, O'Nealan, Mac Nulty, «fec., owe their g"reat 
origin. 

If the third brother, CoIIa Aodh, had any legitimate issue, we think 

* " He was the son of Carbre Liffcachaire, the monarch ; he was known by this 
name, because he was bred and had his education in Stieabthuine, in Connaught." 
Keating. 

t " The Dalgas, like the Irish Militia, not only submitted to the military trials 
of probation, but, by way of pre-eminence, were constantly to be the van-guard in 
every battle, and the rear in every retreat." — O'Halloran. 

X '^ After the gieatha-iile of MuUaghLcathdkerg, (now called Market Hill) in 
the County of Armagh, was fought, the Collas by right of conquest, took possession 
of Orgial of Urial, a large tract of country, now known by the names of Louth, 
Armagh, and Monaghan. These valiant brothers made a contract with the 
monarcli of Ireland, A. D. 336, which stipulated for themselves and their descen- 
dants, that whenever hostages were demanded from them, if shackled, their fetters 
were'to be of pure gold. Hence Orgial, from or (Gold,) and Gial, a hostage." — 
Lynch. 



238 

our annalists would not have neglected to record their names and 
their deeds. 

At this juncture, A. D. 309, Fearchorb was king of Munster, a 
prince extolled by our historians for his genius and bravery in war, 
and his prudence and wisdom in governing his people. Several 
Irish poems are still extant, in which his exploits, wisdom and hos- 
pitality are eloquently lauded. He, according to the psalter of 
Cashel, regularly retained one hundred minstrels in his court, as 
well as a great number of historians and artists. 

He invaded Connaught, where he gained several victories, and 
compelled the king of that country to cede him a large tract of ter- 
ritory, over which he appointed his son viceroy. 

During his reign, the monarch Fiacha was restrained by fear from 
making any hostile attempts against Munster ; but as soon as he 
was informed of the demise of his gallant rival, he formed the reso- 
lution of invading Munster, and of reducing its inhabitants to servile 
subjection. The plan thus designed he quickly proceeded to carry 
into effect. A powerful army, under the command of his son, Prince 
Muireadhach, marched to the frontiers of Munster, where he had 
orders to encamp, and wait the arrival of the king, with the second 
division of the forces that were then in the course of organization at 
Tara. But the young and chivalric prince, animated with martial 
ardour, and the ambition of having the undivided glory of the con- 
quest of Munster, carried fire and sword at once into the country. 
Daire Cearb, the then king of Munster, after being defeated by the 
invader in three battles, was necessitated to abandon his capital, 
Cashel, and retreat to Cork. The monarch was so elated by the 
conquest achieved by his son, that he raised him to the rank of 
Generalissimo, and loaded him with other honors and dignities. 
Eochaidh, provoked and enraged, that a beardless boy should be 
appointed to a post which he possessed for twenty years, declared 
that he should revenge the slight and indignity with which the king, 
his brother, treated him. His sons too, the three Collas, inflamed 
with envy at the success and valour of prince Muireadhach, partook 
of his resentment, and burned with the desire of vengeance. The 
glorious achievements of the young prince threw their fame into the 
shade, whilst it made him the idol of the nation's popularity. The 
conquest of Munster, at this era, rendered the prince royal as emi- 
nent on the summit of renown, as that of Italy rendered the great 
Napoleon. The monarch of Ireland was on the eve of marching to 
Munster, when the intelligence of his brother's defection reached 
him. This unnatural rebellion astonished and grieved him. That 
his brother and nephews should conspire to deprive him of life and 
kingdom, for rewarding a heroic son, to whom the whole nation 
accorded praise and homage, naturally excited sorrow, wonder, and 
indignation in his bosom. While ruminating on the plans which 
the exigency of the occasion required to be put in prompt execution, 
a herald arrived from his brother to challenge him to battle. " Go 
back," said the king, "to my ungrateful brother, and tell him, that, 
though my son is absent, I shall meet him in the field of strife, and 
chastise him and his rebel followers, for this audacious and impious 



239 

act of treason !" The king's prime minister, at this epoch, was an 
eminent druid and prophet, who had gained great reverence and 
respect in Ireland by his predictions. The monarch, at so momen- 
tous a crisis, called upon the seer, to presage the event of the 
approaching war with the insurgents. 

In accordance with the king's request, the prophet told him that 
it was ordained by fate that if his nephews should be slain in the 
coming battle, the sovereignty of Ireland would in that event pass 
from the Heremonian dynasty to that of another race. This prog- 
nostication struck the monarch's heart with grief and disappointment. 
"But," observed the druid, " if their death can be avoided, your 
majesty's family shall sit for ages on the Irish throne." " That, 
good druid," replied the king, " is truly consolatory : let me fall 
nobly in the field, by a brother's or a nephew's hand, so as my son 
and his posterity may reign in this warlike realm, which our renowned 
progenitor, Heremon, won by his sword, and bequeathed to his royal 
race." When he engaged in the conflict with his antagonists, he 
for some time fought with unconquerable valour, but finding that his 
troops gave ground, and that the fate of the day was against him, he 
rushed into the middle of his foes, where he was killed by one of his 
nephews, in the thirty-first year of his reign. 

Thus died the magnanimous Fiacha, a prince in whom some of 
the noblest virtues of humanity shone in the brightest lustre.* The 
eldest Colla, immediately after the death of his predecessor, pro- 
ceeded to Tara, where he was crowned Monarch of Ireland. The 
army which Prince Muireadhach commanded in Munster, was not 
of sufficient force to compete with the power of Colla; so that the 
prince prudently hearkened to the overtures which the ministers of 
the reigning king made to him, to induce him to resign his right to 
the throne of Ireland. Colla entered into a treaty with his rival, 
which provided that Muireadhach should rule Connaught, as a tribu- 
tary Prince, and relinquish all claims to the Irish monarchy. This 
treaty, which necessity dictated for the interest of both parties, did 
not remain long inviolate ; for at the end of four years, the Prince 
of Connaught raised a large army, with which he marched to Tara, 
in order to depose Colla. The monarch, unprepared for so unex- 
pected an attack, abandoned the palace of Tara, and with his aged 
father, and two brothers, flew from the active pursuit of his 
triumphant enemy, to Scotland. The king of that country received 
his brother-in-law and nephews with warm kindness and liberal 
hospitality. When the Pictish king despaired of being able to 
restore his nephew to the Irish throne, he sent an embassy to the 
Irish monarch, to entreat him to pardon his uncle and his cousins, 
and in the true magnanimity of clemency, to permit them to return 

* " Though this monarch made no great improvements in law, or in government 
in his time, yet we read of no oppression or misrule. Scenes of pubHc action, 
conquest, and miUtary glory, are indeed the scenes which enliven history the 
most of any ; but they are not the scenes in which wise and good men would 
choose to pass away their lives. It was greatly and humanely said by Scipio, that 
he had rather save the life of a single citizen, than destroy a thousand enemies. 
The reign of this monarch, therefore, though for the most part still and peaceful, 
yet was happy to himself and all his subjects." — Warnek. 



240 

to their native land, as thej pined and languished in exile. This 
appeal melted the heart of the monarch to compassion, and disposed 
him to yield to the entreaties of the Scottish prince. Orders were, 
in consequence, issued to the officers stationed on the Irish coast to 
permit the royal exiles to land, and allow them to proceed, under a 
proper escort, to Tara. When they appeared at court, the king was 
highly pleased, as well as much affected, by the contrite manner of 
their submission. He assured them of his forgiveness, and his 
detern)ination to reward them according to the rectitude and sin- 
cerity of their future conduct. They, charmed and elated at tiie 
clemency and generosity of the monarch, resolved to profit by every 
opportunity that might offer, to efface the stigma of their treason, 
and to gain a higher ascendency in the confidence of so humane a 
prince. Actuated by this feeling, they soon, by their zeal and 
laudable conduct, obtained such an estimation in the opinion of the 
king, that he began to regard them as the pillars of his throne, and 
the shields of his kingdom. To convince them of his esteem, he 
assigned them territories, and promoted them to the highest offices 
in the state. But this was not all ; he offered them troops to effect 
any conquest they might vk^ish to achieve in the neighboring countries. 
Such an offer made to these daring and ambitious princes was too 
tempting to be refused. 

They artfully told the monarch, on finding him in this mood of 
mind, that the insult and indignity which their common ancestor, 
Cormac O'Con, had experienced in the court of Emania, from 
Feargus, king of Ulster, who burned his hair and beard, a century 
before, remained still without being fully avenged, and that they had 
long sought for the occasion, which now arrived of sacrificing the 
great grandson of him whoso ignominiously dishonored their famed 
progenitor. 

The king warmly applauded the spirit that inflamed them, and in 
order to enable them to chastise, if not dethrone the Irian* King of 
Ulster, who had rendered himself obnoxious to Muireadhach, in 
consequence of his having sent forces, by sea, to assist the people of 
Munster to resist his invasion of that province, he placed at their 
disposal an army of twenty-one thousand men, at the head of which 
they marched to Ulster. Feargus Fodha, King of Ulster, put all 
the forces he could collect in a posture of defence, and set on foot 
every opposition to impede the progress of the foe ; but in vain, for 
after a desperate conflict which lasted three days, his army was 
destroyed, and himself slain, at Lcath-Dhearg, in the county of 
Down. This succession of victories left the people of Ulster no 
alternative, but an unconditional subvnission to the conquerors. The 
victors, not content with subjugating the province to their dominion, 
and slaying its king in battle, carried their ruthless vengeance still 
farther, by first plundering the magnificent palace of Emania of all 
its wealth, treasures and ornaments, and then setting it on fire. 
"Thus," says O'Halloran, "the bloody battle of Leath-Dhearg, in 
which the king of Ulster, his principal nobles, and the entire band 

* The descendants of Ir, the son of Milesius, from whom Ireland derives its 
present name, were designated Irlans. — Vide \st Chapter of this History. 



241 

of the Red-Branch fell, was the ruin of the superb palace and stately 
city of Emania, after flourishing in all their regal pomp, and afford- 
ing themes to ihe descriptive muse, for eight centuries;" but — 

" Non indignemur mortalia Corpora solvi; 
Cernimus exeinplis, oppida posse mori !" 

The victors now divided Ulster between them, and in order to 
ensure the support of the monarch of Ireland, in the possession of 
their conquests, they sent him the arrears of the Ulster tribute, as 
well as part of the spoils and trophies of their victories. Accom- 
panying the grand embassy, which brought these from the Collas to 
the palace of Tara, were several of the captive princes and nobles 
of Ulster, who were fettered in massy chains of gold.* While the 
Collas were engaged in forming the government of their new domin- 
ions, Caolbhadh, the son of the late king of Ulster, contrived to 
make his escape from prison to the court of his cousin Aongus 
Tireach, king of Munster. This prince, on whom was bestowed the 
appellation of Tireach, or the taxer, we are told by our annalists, iu 
consequence of his having subjected Spain and Denmark to his arms, 
and imposed taxes, and levied contributions from the inhabitants of 
those countries, received the royal refugee with every mark of dis- 
tinction, kindness, and honor. Aongus thought now that the moment 
was arrived for gratifying his ambition, and for avenging the wrongs 
which he and his people had experienced from the monarch of 
Ireland, when he invaded Munster. He, therefore, promised the 
Ulster prince the most potent aid, not only to recover his hereditary 
dominions, but to push off the monarch Muireadhach from the 
throne. The army of Munster was speedily put in motion, as well 
as the troops of the king of Connaught, which combined forces 
marched almost to the gates of Tara, before the king of Ireland 
opposed them with an efficient resistance. The belligerents, by 
mutual consent, resolved to decide their pretensions to the crown, 
by the result of a battle. In the engagement, which took place in 
the vicinity of Tara, Muireadhach was killed, in the thirtieth year 
of his reign, and his army routed. The conquerer made his 
triumphal entry into Tara, where the Druids solemnly, on the stone 
of destiny, inaugurated him monarch of Ireland. But his reign 
was short, for ere a year had expired, he was killed in battle, by the 
hand of his successor, Eochaidh, the son of Muireadhach, the 
monarch. 

* " To load prisoners of royal blood and noble rank with golden chains, was not 
only a custom among the ancient Irish, but among the Persians and Macedonians. 
When Alexander captured Parus, he caused him to be shackled in chains of gold, 
and treated ' like a king.' Darius, after the battle of Arbela, when treacherously 
betrayed by the Governor of Bactriana, was bound by the traitor in a similar man^ 
ner. Many of the Roman conquerors, while making their triumphal entry into 
Rome, were followed by royal captives wearing fetters of gold. In Ireland these 
chains, many of which have been found emboweled in the sites of palaces and 
camps, were fabricated in the finest taste of workmanship ; a fact, that adds another 
corroboration to the million of proofs, which attest the authenticity of the history 
of ancient Ireland." — Hutchinson. 

31 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Accession of Eochaidh to the throno. — His endeavor to extort contributions from 
Leinster frustrated. — His reign and death. — The reign and death of the Monarch 
Criomthan, A. D. 353. 

Eochaidh, the vanquisher of the last king, Caolhliadh, no sooner 
reached the palace of Tara, than the national representatives saluted 
hi0i monarch. The popularity of his father Muireadhach gave him 
a passport to the partiality and favor of the Irish people. During 
his administration in Connaught, as viceroy, he espoused the princess 
royal of Munster, Munig Fion, (the fair,) daughter of Fiachadh, 
the king of that province. By this lady he became the father of 
four sons, who were named Brian, Fiachre, Fergus and OUoll. 
From the first two princes of this issue were descended the future 
kings of Connaught, who our historians and genealogists distin- 
guished by the patronymic appellation of " Hy Brunes" and " Hi 
Fiachres." The queen of Eochaidh died shortly after his accession 
to the crown, when he again married Carrina, the daughter of the 
Prince of Wales, who gave birth to the famed and illustrious hero, 
Nial, of the nine hostages, the great progenitor of the O'Neils, 
or Hynials, O'Donnels, Colemans, Quins, O'Dalys, M'Aulays, 
M'Geoghegans, O'Molloys, O'Kindelins, Foxes, M'Loughlins, and 
several other branches that once adorned and beautified our gene- 
alogical tree, ere the Saxon invaders eradicated it from the native 
soil in which it had so long flourished and luxuriated. Eochaidh, 
to replenish his exchequer, had recourse to the stale attempt of 
imposing a tax on Leinster. For the purpose of enforcing the pay- 
ment of the required tribute, he marched to the frontiers of that 
province, with a large army of native troops and Welsh auxiliaries. 
The king of Leinster, Eana Kinsellagh,* unable, single-handed, to 
oppose the force that threatened himself and his people with ruin, 
applied for assistance to Lugha-lamli-dhearg, (or of the bloody hand,) 
a name bestowed on him in consequence of that emblem being 
painted on his ensign. Lugha, being a warlike and ambitious prince, 
rejoiced in having an opportunity of appeasing a grudge which he 
owed for some cause, to Eochaidh, promptly proceeded with his 
army to the camp of Eana. The monarch became alarmed for the 
success of his expedition, when he saw the formidable array which 
was to contend with him. In this extremity he despatched messen- 
gers to Connaught, for the purpose of invoking the assistance of that 
province, to which, in the event of compliance, he promised to cede 
the county of Clare, as the price of its alliance with him. The 
Connacians, covetous to possess that territory, lost no time in send- 
ing the required reinforcement to Eochaidh. Judging now that he 
was able to strike a decisive blow, he led on his army to the attack. 
The onset was fierce and furious, as both armies were brave and 

* " Called Censalach, (which means in Irish, the fool head) in consequence of 
feis having killed a Druid, after the battle of Cruachan Claonta, who had given 
him insolence." — O'Flaherty. 



243 

resolute. For hours victory inclined to neither side ; but at length 
Lugha and Eana made a combined and powerful charge of spears 
on the monarch's centre, which they compelled to give ground. 
This partial advantage animated the hopes of the allied princes, 
without depressing those of Eochaidh ; for, rallying with renewed 
vigor, he regained the position which he had lost. Both armies, 
during the night, reposed upon their arms in the field of battle. As 
soon as the dawn of the morning afforded light, the engagement was 
renewed. Never did courage and valour more signally display 
themselves than in that terrible conflict, to which the intervention of 
another night put a short period. The desperate strife and emulous 
struggle of heroes were resumed on the third morning, with an 
increased spirit of gallantry. For fifteen days, we are told, they 
thus combated, until at length, after the most sanguinary succession 
of battles, the monarch's army was reduced to a skeleton. 

Eochaidh, foiled and frustrated in his designs of conquest and 
exaction, was necessitated to agree to the most humiliating terms of 
a peace, by which he had to relinquish for himself and his successors 
all claims to tribute from Leinster. 

The monarch returned to Tara, with a broken spirit and a 
discomfited army, while the victorious King of Munster invaded 
Connaught, which he reduced to the most complete subjection. To 
reward his officers and soldiers, Lugha parcelled out to them, as 
military fiefs, for which they were to render sword service, when 
'required, the entire county of Clare. Some of these feudatory 
tenors existed in that country until the days of Elizabeth.* 

It may not be unamusing to our readers to detail the occurrence, 
>vhich took place at the battle, that discomfited the army of Eochaidh, 
as from it the once princely family of Kinsellagh derived their njfme.t 
Among the prisoners who were brought in chains to the tent of 
Eana, the King of Leinster, was Ceadmuitliach, the arch druid of 
Tara, who had patriotically distinguished himself, not only by his 
arms, in the past engagement, but by his poetic eloquence in stimu- 
lating and exciting the warriors of the monarch to courage and 
intrepidity. 

No sooner was the gallant and patriotic sage introduced into the 
presence of the King of Leinster, than he began to chide the soldiers 
for not putting him to death. The druid, provoked and enraged at 
the inhuman and irreverent expressions which fell from Eana, felt 
all the enthusiasm of prophetic inspiration, as he burst out in the 
following predictive philippic : — "King of Leinster, if the life of the 
priest of our luminous Deity must be sacrificed to your cowardly 

■* " By the peace made by Lugha and his ally, the king of Leinster, with the 
monarch and the Connacians, it was covenanted, that every village in Leaih Cuin, 
(the patrimonial territory of the Irish monarchs) Connaught and Ulster should 
pay the conquerors an ounce of pure gold. So potent was the power of the king of 
Munster, from whom Mr. O'Connell, the [now, 1835] great mover and agitator 
of the Catholic Board, is lineally descended, that he fearlessly dictated to Eochaidh, 
and carried his boldness so far as to force him to banish all foreigners from the 
kingdom." — Lawdcrs Chart of hish History — Dublin, 1814. 

t " The O'Kinsellaghs, descended from king Caithir-More, were for many ages 
kings of Leinster." — Lynch. 



244 

vengeance, I am ready to part with it as becomes a mnn of my 
exalted order. Death can, it is true, annihilate my body ; but as to 
my spirit, it is a spark of heaven that vrill live to give evidence of 
your cruelty and injustice before the celestial tribunal, where your 
soul must soon stand as a criminal. The sun of your earthly glory 
is gradually sinking, and yonder field shall be soon moistened with 
your heart's blood. Would to heaven you were never born ! for a 
prince of your family, (Dermod Macmurrough,) by his pride and 
his lasciviousness, shall bring ruin and disgrace on his country, and 
help to fetter her in the chains of foreign despotism ! Your 
descendants, haughty prince ! will become bondsmen and slaves, and 
servile servitors to their oppressive invaders. They will wander 
forth through the world as outcasts and exiles, ere the lapse of many 
ages, and posterity shall designate them to reproach, and execrate 
your infamous memory, for wickedly slaying a servant of the Most 
High, Censallagh, (filthy head,) a designation that will remain as a 
blot on the escutcheon of your family's nobility, and an eternal 
stagma on every one that bears your name. Take my life, tyrant ! 
I lay it down cheerfully ! but, alas ! my poor country ! I must sigh 
in the last struggle of expiring nature, when I read, in the visions 
which futurity crowds upon my sight, of the ages of injustice and 
intolerable miseries which you, dear native land of heroes and sages ! 
are destined to endure from foreign task-masters." His words 
kindled the king's choler to such a rage of indignation, that he 
ingloriously pierced him through the body with his spear.* That 
the prognostication of the venerable seer, preserved in Molloy's 
miscellanies, and which now, for the first time, appears in the English 
language, has been literally verified with a fearful vengeance, is, for 
Ireland, a melancholy fact, that nearly seven centuries of English 
despotism and persecution have inscribed on the lasting pillars of 
history, while they still excite the sympathy and the indignation of 
all the reading world. Dr. O'Halloran says, on what authority we 
know not, that Lugha, King of Munster, passed over into Scotland, 
and drove the Romans out of that country. " Ammianus Marcelli- 
nus," observes he, " the historian, and the poet Claudian, who 
flourished after the era in question, bear ample testimonies of these 
invasions, and of the distress the Britons were reduced to by them. 
Claudian celebrates the successes which Theodosius gained over 
these allies in the following lines : 

" ■■ — Maduerunt Saxone fuso 



Orcades ; incaluil Pictorum sanguine Thule ; 
Scotorum Cumulus flevit glacialis I erne." 

At this juncture, A. D. 267, the monarch Eochaidh died peaceably 
at Tara, in the eighth year of his reign. This sovereign had many 
redeeming qualities to atone for his inordinate ambition and love of 

* " The family of this prince was afterwards known by the name of Vibh Cen- 
sallagh : — tlie word salach means in the Irish, foul or reproachful, a character that 
this royal line of Leinster could never wipe off. This king Eana Censallagh, was 
a fortunate and martial prince, and the most powerful and formidable of any of 
the petty princes of the island. The Psalter of Cashel, whose credit and 
authority will admit of no dispute, has it upon record, that the aforesaid Eana 
gained fifteen victories in Connaught and Meath." — Keating, 



245 

military glory. He was generous and merciful, and during his 
reign the laws were administered with justice, clemency, and 
impartiality. 

The national estates, as soon as the throne became vacant, pro- 
ceeded to elect a new monarch. Their choice fell on Criomthan, a 
Munster prince, of the dynasty of Heber. The success of his elec- 
tion is imputed by our historians to the power and influence of his 
cousin Lugha, Ring of Munster, by whose intrigues, tke sons of 
Eochaidh were, for the present, set aside. His queen was Fidheang, 
the daughter of the king of Connaught, by whom it does not appear 
that he had any issue. This prince, having fought, with honorable 
distinction, in all the wars of Lugha, had a passion for military 
fame. Shortly after his gaining possession of the crown, the Romans 
made another incursion into Albania, where they committed great 
ravages and licentious excesses. 

The people, oppressed and harassed by the invaders, implored 
the Irish king, as their natural ally, to come to their aid. He joy- 
fully and promptly complied with their entreaties. An army was 
raised, and a fleet fitted out with rapid celerity. 

Prior, however, to the embarkation of the monarch, he, by the 
consent of the national assembly, appointed Connal, the son of his 
relative and benefactor, Lugha, regent of Ireland. 

About a year before this epoch, on the death of Lugha, his son, 
Connal, through the assistance and interest of Criomihan, was 
invested with the sovereignty of Munster, in despite of Core, the 
rightful heir, and in contravention of the will of Olioll OUum, made 
in the second century, which stipulated that the posterity of both 
his sons, Eogan and Cormac, should alternately reign kings of 
Munster, and possess the crown in regular succession. The 
adherents of Prince Core, who was the son of Luigh, and the direct 
and legitimate descendant of Eogan, in conjunction with the great 
majority of the people of Munster, caused a strong remonstrance to 
be presented to the national convention, then (A. D. 370) assembled 
at Tara, in which they feelingly complained of the illegal infraction 
of the will of Olioll, and boldly arraigned the partiality and injustice 
of the supreme monarch of Ireland, in depriving Core of his 
unalienable right. This manifesto intimidated Criomthan, and 
extorted from him a tardy concession to the demands of Munster. 
Impatient to embark for Scotland, and anxious to allay all causes of 
discontent at home, during his absence abroad, he convened an 
assembly of the estates of Munster to decide on the claims of the 
competitors to the crown of that kingdom. 

The members who composed this convention were men of moral 
courage, justice, and honor, who, in their impartial decision, swayed 
by equitable fairness alone, and regardless of the threats and frowns 
of the monarch, unanimously awarded the crown to Core, the 
rightful heir. But, while we commend the energy and equity of 
their conduct, we should not omit bestowing the meed of merited 
eulogium on the promptitude with which Connal, in compliance with 
the decision of the assembly, laid down a crown which the law did 
not entitle him to wear. This amicable adjustment of the disputes 



246 

in Mnnsler removed all fears for the tranquillity of the kingdom from 
the mind of the monarch. He, therefore, set out on his expedition 
to Scotland, with confidence in the allegiance of his people, and 
with hopes that victory and conquest would crown his arms. On 
his arrival the Picts and a large body of Saxons, who fled from the 
despotism of the Romans, enrolled themselves under the Irish 
standard. Criomthan, finding himself now at the head of a nume- 
rous and well disciplined army, commenced the attack on the 
Roman legions, whom, after an obstinate struggle in several battles, 
he ultimately drove into Britain. 

The Romans having i-etreated to the middle of Britain,* the 
victor resolved to give their power elsewhere another blow, in a more 
vulnerable point. To accomplish that purpose he augmented his 
army by levies of troops in Ireland and Scotland, with which he 
made a descent on the maritime coast of Gaul, where he attacked 
the Romans in their very camp, which he compelled them to 
abandon, after leaving behind all their equipages, spoils, and 
trophies. 

He continued in Gaul nearly the period of a year, during which 
he fought many battles with the Romans, and in the most of them 
was successful. It is recorded by Rapin that the Irish monarch was 
obliged to halt in his career of conquest in Gaul, on receiving 
intelligence that Maximus Magnus was preparing an expedition in 
Britain, for the invasion of Ireland. This news determined the 
monarch to return to his beloved country, and protect her shores 
from the aggression of the foe. His triumphal entry into Tara, has 
been represented as the most magnificent spectacle that ever had 
been witnessed in Ireland. 

It is related by some of our historians, that it was at the request 
of an Irish petty prince, who had deserted to the Romans, and thus 
proved a trator to his king and country, that Maximus determined 
to invade Ireland. Moore, in his History of Ireland, in narrating 
the treason of the deserter, has made the following striking and 
apposite reflection on Irish traitors : — 

" It would hardly be possible, perhaps, in the whole compass of 
history, to find a picture more pregnant with the future, more 
prospectively characteristic, than this of a recreant Irish prince, in 
the camp of the Romans, proffering his traitorous services to the 
stranger, and depreciating his country as an excuse for betraying 
her. It is, indeed, mournful to reflect that, at the end of nearly 
eighteen centuries, the features of this national portrait should 
remain so very little altered ; and that with a change only of scene 

* " The extreme vanity of the Scots of Albany, in presuming to arrogate to the 
North Britons only the glory of these days in exclusion of their Irish ancestors, 
has been so fully exposed by the most respectable writers of Britain and Ireland, 
that 1 should deem it an insult to the understanding of my readers, to say any 
thing further on this head, than bravely to remark, that to a contemplative mind 
it must appear very extraordinary how the North Britons should, in early days 
acquire so great a power as to be able to attack, and, for near four centuries, keep 
the whole power of South Britain, aided by Rome, on the defensive rather than 
the offensive ; whilst in subsequent periods, almost to our own days, they were 
seldom able to oppose the British Saxons alone !" — O'Hallokan. 



247 

from the tent of the Roman general to the closet of the English 
minister or viceroy, the spectacle of an Irishman playing the game 
of his country's enemies, has been, even in modern history, an 
occurrence by no means rare." 

But his glory and his triumphs, with his life, were now closed by 
the cruel and unnatural hands that should have guarded and caressed 
him. His own sister, a proud and ambitious woman, with the view 
of having her son's brow encircled with the royal diadem of Ireland, 
administered a cup of poison to the monarch, while he was on a 
visit in her apartment, at Tara. Our annalists say, that the poison 
was so deadly and malignant, that when the vile woman applied the 
cup to her lips, pretending to drink to her brother, the very fumes 
of it produced her death almost as soon as that of the king. Such 
was the fate of the brave and magnanimous Criomthan, in the third 
year of his reign. Had not treachery cut him off, his exploits and 
his virtues would have reached as exalted glory as any Milesian 
prince ever attained. His very name was a terror to the Romans ; 
and had he but lived a few years longer, it is probable, he would 
have achieved their utter expulsion from Britain, Caledonia, and 
Gaul. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



Kial of the Nine Hostages is elected Monarch of Ireland. — He sails to Scotland, to 
assist the Irish colony. — Drives the Romans into Britain. — Changes the name of 
Albania into Scotia Minor, in honor of Scotia, the wife of his great ancestor, 
Milesius. 

The death of the chivalrous monarch Criomthan, in the barbarous 
and treacherous manner narrated in the last chapter, called forth 
several candidates to compete for the crown of Ireland. Eana, 
king of Leinster, with the view of securing the prize by force of 
arms, marched to Tara, and took possession of the palace, and 
surrounded the house of the national assembly with his troops. This 
violent procedure gave great offence to the northern princes who 
marshalled all their forces, and placed them under the command of 
Prince Nial, the son of a former monarch, Eochaidh. 

With this army, Nial marched to the neighborhood of Tara, where 
he halted, and despatched heralds to Eana, threatening him with 
vengeance, unless he evacuated the palace, and withdrew with all 
his soldiers, three leagues from Tara, in order that the national 
estates might not be controlled, or overawed, in the exercise of their 
elective rights. 

Core, king of Munster, came also to the vicinity of Tara, with an 
army to support his pretensions to the throne. Eana, however, on 
the arrival of the heralds, judged it prudent to acquiesce to the 
requisition of Prince Nial. 

The election now proceeded, unbiassed and unrestricted by the 



248 

presence of an army ; and, after a long discussion of the respective 
merits of the three candidates, the majority of the princes and elec- 
tors declared in favor of Nial, the son of Eochaidh, of the dynasty 
of Heremon. As soon as this decision was announced to the suc- 
cessful candidate, through the heralds, he made his triumphal entry 
into Tara, where the druids placed the crown upon his head, A. D. 
380. Core and Eana, grieved and disappointed by the election of 
their rival, united their armies, and boldly proclaimed their determi- 
nation of deposing the reigning monarch, notwithstanding that he 
was constitutionally elected by the representatives of the people. 
These illegal and violent proceedings only added strength to the 
power of Nial, and served to enlist the affections of the whole nation 
in his favor. 

Hostilities were resorted to, and after a series of sanguinary 
conflicts, the pretenders were totally defeated and discomfited, and 
compelled to submit to such terms of peace as the monarch thought 
proper to dictate. By the terms of this memorable treaty, Core, 
King of Munster, and Eana, Ring of Leinster, recognized the 
election of Nial as fair and constitutional, and bound themselves, by 
hostages, to pay an annual tribute to^the monarch during his reign. 
Nial, on the other hand, well pleased at the result of the treaty, 
presented the Kings of Leinster and Munster with 1000 war horses, 
500 suits of silver and steel armour, 190 gold rings, and fifty golden 
cups, bearing suitable inscriptions, to commemorate this treaty of 
peace.* 

Nial, being now firmly seated on the throne, and undismayed in 
the full exercise of his regal authority, began to form projects of 
foreign conquest. 

At this juncture, the Roman power was on the wane in Britain, 
so that the Picts, forgetful of the protection which several of the 
Irish monarchs afforded them from the incursions of the Romans, 
began to view the Dalriadan colony with extreme envy and 
jealousy, and to concert plans for expelling these Irish settlers out 
of the country. Actuated with these feelings, the Picts assembled 
an army to invade the territories of the Irish colonists. The Irish 
for a while defended their possessions with formidable valour, and 
gallantly repelled several attacks of the invading foe. But the 
Picts, resolved to accomplish their purpose, called in the Anglo 
Saxons to their aid. With this reinforcement they succeeded in 
driving the Irish into their strong holds. The colonists, i-educed to 
this extremity, sent ambassadors to the Irish Monarch to implore 
him, as the sovereign of their mother country, to send them aid to 
rescue them from the danger which environed their lives and proper- 
ties. The monarch was greatly affected by the relation, which the 
ambassadors of the aggressions and devastations of the Pictish 
invaders ; and in the fulness of his compassion, he assured them that 

* " It was the custom of the Irish, in controverted elections, wlien a peace was 
made, that the acknowledged monarch made presents to his former antagonists. 
Thus, Maolsacldin, King of Leinster, surrendered the diadem of Ireland to Brian 
Boroihme, he received from the new monarch a present of horses and arms, and 
his attendants were likewise rewarded." — O'Halloran. 



249 

the ingratitude of the Piets should be visited vvitli severe retributive 
justice, as he was resolved to command the army in person, which 
was destined to reduce to his subjection, the country of the Picts. 
With these assurances from Nial, the ambassadors hastened back 
to the Irish colonists, to cheer them with the gladdening tidings that 
powerful aid and succors were at hand. The monarch, with a large 
fleet and army, in accordance to his promise, speedily made a descent 
on the Caledonian coast, and immediately after landing, he com- 
menced his march to the Pictish camp, which, on his approach, 
they suddenly abandoned, leaving behind all their equipage and 
spoils for the conqueror, and fled into the mountains. 

The wandering fugitives, despairing of success, sent an embassy 
to the Irish king to sue for peace. Nial, like a magnanimous hero, 
readily accepted the olive, and requested that nine of the principal 
chiefs of the Picts should be delivered into his hands, as hostages 
for the faithful performance of the treaty then in progress of nego- 
tiation. Hence this illustrious monarch is distinguished, in our 
annals, on which his exploits shed an undying lustre, by the 
appellation of ^^ Nial of the Nine Hostages.''''*' This famous treaty 
stipulated, that the Dalriada, or Irish colony, should not owe any 
allegiance, or pay tribute to any sovereign except their protector, 
the monarch of Ireland ; that the Picts should forever pay an annual 
tribute to the Irish sovereigns, t and that in order that the whole 
country should be dependant on Ireland, and acknowledge her 
power and conquest, Albania should ever after be called Scotia 
Minor. In those days the favorite name of Ireland was Scotia, so 
that Scotland is indebted to us for her present name, as she is for 
letters, government, religion, and nobility of blood. | Plume, in 
adverting to the origin of his country, observes, with his character- 
istic caution, and extreme reluctance to acknowledge Scotia the 
"venerable mother of modern Scotland," "that in every ancient 
language Scotland means only the country north of the Friths of 
Clyde and Forth. I shall not (he adds) make a parade of literature 

■^ '• The troops which this great Irisli prince led to Albania, (Scotland) were in 
valour and discipline the best then in Europe." — Vallancey. 

t We have the authority of Cambden, Whitaker, and Bishop Usher, that Scot- 
land continued to pay this tribute to Ireland, down to the tenth century. M'Cur- 
tin, in his biography of Brian the Great, says, that if that hero had not fallen at 
the battle of Clontarf, he would have forced Malcom II. to pay the arrears of 
tribute which the modern Scotland owed the Irish crown. — Author. 

+ " The occasion of this name was in honor and memory of the princess Scotia, 
the daughter of Pharaoh Nectonebus, king of Egypt, who was the wife of Mile- 
sius, king of Spain. From this monarch the Dalriads descended, and therefore 
they made choice that the island should be called Scotia Major, rather than Erin, 
Hibernia, or any other appellation. The authority of the learned Cambden might 
be insisted upon in confirmation of this account, for he asserts in his Chronicle of 
Britain that Scotland was called Scotia Minor, and Ireland Scotia Major, and 
declares that there is no certain evidence upon record, to prove that the inhabitants 
of Scotland were known by the name of Scots before the time of Constantine 
the Great. It is evident from the ancient records of the island, that the country 
of Scotland was known by the name of Mhania, until the reign of the Great Nial 
of the Nine Hostages. The kingdom of Scotland was styled Albania from Alba- 
ncetus, the third son of Brutus, to whom the country was assigned by lot, when 
the father was making provision for his children.'' — Keating. 
32 



250 

to prove it, because I do not Jind the point is disputed by the Scots 
themselves." To establish, by additional testimony, the facts that the 
Scots are descendants of the Irish, their own historian, Buchanan, 
stamps authenticity upon the truth of our annalists, by the asser- 
tion, that " the Irish and the Scotch are from one common origin, 
since the natives of Ireland, and the colonies sent from thence at 
various periods into Scotland, were originally called Scots. In order 
to distinguish between the Irish and those Scots, they began to call 
those transplanted Irish by the name of Albanian Scots." Nial, 
having brought the Picts thus under his subjection, and established 
the Irish colony on an independent basis, came to the determination 
of invading Gaul, and of wresting a portion of that country from 
the Romans. To embody an army competent to gain success in the 
daring enterprise, he caused a levy of troops to be made in Ireland 
and Scotia. In a short time he saw a mighty host of troops under 
his standard, with which he embarked for the continent. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



Nial ravages France, and drives the Romans beyond the Loire. — Seizes on a great 
many cajjtives, among ichom toere St. Patrick and his two sisters. — The Saxons 
prevail on him to assist them in resisting the aggressions of the Romans, under 
the Emjieror Maximus. — He returns to Britain in consequence , and forces the 
Romans to retreat to Wales. — Eochaidh, the son of Eana, captures the palace of 
Tara. — The conquering JYial brings his victorious army back to his kingdom, with 
ivhich he devastates Leinster, and takes Eochaidh, the king, a 'prisoner, whom he 
causes to be chained to a rock. — The captive Prince kills his jailors and effects his 
escape to Scotland. — Partition of Munster. — JVial's Will, and an account of his 
family. — His exploits, and death in France. 

The army which Nial transported to Gaul, in valour, discipline, 
and numerical strength, was superior to any force that Ireland had 
ever before sent into a foreign country. It consisted of the best 
troops of Ireland and Scotland, commanded by the bravest officers 
of the nobility and chivalry of both nations. The unexpected 
descent of such an army on the coast of Bi'ittany, headed by a 
monarch whose gallantry was only surpassed by his martial genius, 
threw the Roman legions into consternation and dismay. 

Nial was no sooner disembarked, than he began to act on the offen- 
sive. The Romans assumed a bold attitude, and stood the shock of 
the fierce attack of the Irish army with their characteristic courage 
and steadiness ; but, after an obstinate struggle, they were defeated 
and compelled to retreat to the city of Tours, whither the victor 
rapidly pursued them. Not deeming their force adequate to the 
defence of that fortress, they abandoned it on the night after the 
Irish monarch had arrived at the gates. The citizens opened their 
gates, and threw themselves on the mercy of the conqueror. 

Nial found here, every thing that his army could stand in need 
of. This city was captured, according to O'FIaherty, the most cor- 



251 

rect chronologist among our historians, A. D. 387.* To secure the 
fulfilment of the terms winch Nial prescribed to the citizens, he 
required two hundred of the children of the notables of Bretagne as 
hostages, whom he had, immediately after their delivery into his 
hands, transported to Ireland. Among these were St. Patrick, then 
in the sixteenth year of his age, as well as his two sisters, whose 
names were Lupida and Dererca. 

Nial, in order to follow up his victories, and to give a death-blow 
to the Roman power in Gaul, resolved to pursue them beyond the 
Loire ; but, just as he was on the point of marching from Tours, he 
received a letter from Gabhran, the prince of the Dalriada, 
acquainting him that Maximus had been proclaimed 'emperor by his 
soldiers in Britain, and that he was about passing over to Gaul with 
his whole army, to assert his claim to the sovereignty of the empire. 
This letter, which suggested to the monarch the facility with which 
he might, in the absence of the Romans, make himself master of 
all Britain, induced him to abandon his project of following the 
Romans. The contiguity of England to his own kingdom, render- 
ing it a much more desirable conquest for his arms than the French 
provinces, prevailed upon him to relinquish, for a time, his designs 
there, and to return to North Britain. He left, however, on his 
departure, a strong garrison in Tours, to which he purposed return- 
ing as soon as Britain should be reduced to his subjection. After he 
had landed in Scotland, he commenced his campaign against Britain, 
by razing the Roman wall. In his march through England, multi- 
tudes of the Saxons crowded to his standard, and solicited him to 
become their sovereign. But, as he was proceeding in this career 
of triumph, he learned that Eochaidh, king of Leinster, the son of 
his former rival, Eana, headed an insurrection, and that he was 
marching with the disaffected towards Tara. 

This intelligence, soon decided the course he was to take, to crush 
rebellion. He immediately retraced his steps to his fleet, and 
embarked for Ireland, where he landed after a short passage. In 
the mean time, Eochaidh seized on the palace of Tara, and vio- 
lently entered the house of the national assembly, with an armed 
band, to compel the representatives to declare him supreme monarch 
of Ireland. This illegal procedure, instead of shaking the members 
with alarm, on the contrary, roused their indignation and courage. 
A son of the arch-druid rose up in his place, and denounced the 
unconstitutional conduct of Eochaidh, in acrimonious terms. He 
lauded the glory and exploits of Nial, in a lofty strain of eloquence, 
and pointed out to the attention of the assembly, the eclat which his 
achievements had imparted to the national glory, which they served 
to immortalize. He further insisted, that Eochaidh, not having 
been yet installed a knight of the Gradh-Gaoisge, or golden collar, 
an order, without which, no Milesian priwce could aspire to the 
crown of Ireland, that he was, in consequence, incapacitated by the 

* " The Irish Scots, under Nial the Great, wasted and destroyed many provinces 
of Britain, in opposition to the power of the Romans. They atteinpted to possess 
themselves of the northern part of Britain ; and at length, having driven out the 
old inhabitants, these Irish seized upon the country, and settled in it." — Jocelyn. 



252 

defect from taking the reigns of the regal anthoritj.* These obser- 
vations made a deep impression on tlie minds of the assembly, and 
turned the current of popular opinion from the pretensions of 
Eochaidh, who, despairing of success, consented to evacuate the 
palace, and return back to his own territory of Leinster. 

Eochaidh, disguising his deadly enmity against the son of the 
arch-druid, whose eloquence had so forcibly tended to frustrate the 
designs of his usurpation, invited him, and several others of the 
national representatives, to a banquet, which he had ordered to be 
prepared in the palace, on the eve of his departure from it. The 
devoted personage attended, but on his return home from the feast, 
he was assassinated. Though our historians do not directly charge , 
the king of Leinster, with the commission of the atrocious deed, we 
still think that he was implicated in it. The monarch, Nial, inflamed 
with the desire of vengeance, committed dreadful excesses in the 
course of his march from Wexford to Tara. Blood and fire marked 
his pathway. Never did ruin and devastation signalize themselves 
by a more destructive system of ravage and spoliation. Nial, in 
this instance, gave loose to a spirit of licentiousne^ss, which must 
stand against him as a disgrace, on the pillars of his immortality. 

As he approached Tara, he espied the troops of Eochaidh march- 
ing in an opposite direction, and pointing his sword towards them, 
he exclaimed, "Now Eochaidh must be either a dead man, or a 
living captive ! Soldiers, your monarch has confidence in your 
fidelity. You, that enchained victory so often to the Sco.tian stand- 
ard in Albania, Britain, and Gaul, will not, in your own native soil, 
yield to dastard rebels. Your monarch and general, wnll either die 
in the field, or live like his illustrious ancestor, Heremon, sole 
Monarch of Ireland." 

His address excited the feelings of the soldiers, to the highest 
pitch of enthusiasm, and thus actuated, the king led them on to 
attack Eochaidli, and the forces of Leinster. The assault was 
irresistible : Eochaidh's troops were annihilated in the first charge, 
and himself taken prisoner. This battle was fought at Dunshaugh- 
lin, now a handsome village in the county of Meath, fourteen miles 
north of Dublin. 

When the unfortunate Eochaidh, was brought before Nial, the latter 
evinced very little of the magnanimous spirit of the true hero ; for 
he gave himself up to the influence of his anger, and loaded the 
unfortunate captive with the most vulgar abuse. After inveighing 
against the royal captive, in the severest terms of contumely, he 
ordered a massy iron hoop to be clasped round his body, to which 
was appended a heavy chain, that was to bind him to a perforated 
crag of a rock, near Tara. 

* " His not having received the Equestrian Order, defeated his object. The 
law of Ireland regarding candidates for the monarchy, required that a prince being 
of the royal blood of Milesius, vi^as not sufficient without he was fully invested 
with the Knighthood of the Gradh-Gaoisgc, or the regal order of chivalry." — 
Illustrations of the History of Ireland. 

" The first order of chivalry in ancient Ireland, was the Mah Kase, or Knights 
of the Golden Collar, and this order was peculiar to the blood royal, as without it 
no prince could presume to become a candidate for the monarchy. The truth of 
this is exemplified in the history of Eochaidh, King of Leinster." — OTlaherty, 



253 

To carry the sentence passed by the monarch, on his unfortunate 
prisoner, into execution, nine of the most athletic soldiers of the 
royal guard were nominated. But as these gigantic men were about 
fastening the chain to the rock, Eochaidh, who was renowned for 
his bodily strength and heroic courage, wrested it out of their hands, 
and attacked them so bravely with it, that he killed five of them, and 
so disabled the other four, as to render them incompetent to offer 
any opposition to his escape. Having thus effected his liberation 
from an igno^ninious captivity, he precipitately fled to Scotland, 
where his cousin, Gabhran, the prince of the Dalriada, received 
him with kindness and hospitality. 

As soon as Nial heard that Gabhran had afforded an asylum to 
Eochaidh, he sent a herald to command that Dalriadian prince, to 
have him loaded with chains, and delivered up to a guard of soldiers 
that accompanied the herald, to take charge of the devoted Eochaidh. 
The laws of hospitality, and the feelings of honor, alike persuaded 
Gabhran, to refuse a compliance with the requisition of the Irish 
king. 

Nial, although much chagrined by the peremptory refusal of 
Gabhran, to acede to his special solicitation, was still influenced by 
policy, to conceal his resentment. At this juncture, when internal 
revolt dare not raise its head in Ireland, Nial was preparing, on a 
grand and extensive scale, another expedition for France ; and 
knowing that Gabhran could supply a most powerful contingent to 
his army, he affected the most friendly wishes towards that prince, 
and improved every opportunity of cultivating the amicable 
relations that subsisted, between the sovereign and the vassal. 

He also prevailed upon several of the Anglo Saxon princes, to 
accompany him to France, with their troops, where he promised 
them a rich harvest of glory and spoils.* The immense fleet of the 
Irish monarch, was collected in a Scottish port, from whence it 
sailed for the coast of Gaul, in the beginning of the year 401 of the 
Christian era.t 

* " Nial, being encouraged by the number of his captives, and the success of 
his arms, not only in Scotland, England, and France, resolved upon a second 
expedition to the latter country ; but not thinking his own army sufficient of itself 
for such an enterprise, he concerts measures with his relative and feudatory prince 
of th,e Dalriada, as well as with the Saxon chieftains of Britain, to join him upon 
the Gaelic coast, and to share the invasion and the plunder with the Irish." — 
Dr. Warner. 

t " Macpherson, and his bottle holder, the recreant Ledwich, have ignorantly. 
asserted, that these invasions of the Irish, were from currachs, or boats made of 
leather and wicker-work. But, though our own historians should be overlooked 
on this occasion, surely the testimony of Roman writers, should be decisive in our 
favor. How else are wc to explain the fine compliment which Claudian, under 
the name of Britain, pays to his patron, Stilicho, the commander of the Romans in 
Britain, during the first part of the reign of Theodosius. 

^^ Me quoque vicinis pereuntcin gentibus inquit, 

Munivct Stilicho, totam cum Scotis Jernam 

Mavit ; — et infesto spumavit remige Tlietys. 

Illius affectum curtis, nc be.lla tinierem 

Scotia nee Pictum tremerem, nee littorc toto 

Prospicercm duhiis venturuvi Saxona ventis." 
At no time were oars used in currachs, but all antiquity proclaims that large gal- 
leys and ships of war, were never without them." — MDermolVs History of Ireland. 



254 

At this juncture, A. D. 405, there was a serious dispute between 
the Connacians and the princes of Munster, relative to the county 
of Clare, which both parties claimed as their territory. The com- 
petitors, however, by the advice of the Arch-Druids of Munster and 
Connaught, agreed to submit their respective claims to the decision 
of the monarch Nial. The princes of Munster, in order to dispose 
him to their interest, furnished four regiments of the Dalgas, as 
their quota to the expedition then destined to conquer France. The 
appearance, armour, clothing, and discipline of these troops, excited 
the admiration and gratitude of the monarch. In a speech from the 
throne to the national assembly, he stated, " that the necessity of 
adding to the strength of the nation, by promoting concord and 
unanimity, influenced him to decide, that the rival of Munster, 
Eana, Arigithach, the son of Connell, of the Dalgas race and 
house of Heber, and Eugenius, his cousin, should divide Munster 
into two principalities : that South Munster should belong to Eana, 
and North Munster, including the county of Clare, should form the 
dominion of Eugenius." This adjudication was received by the 
people of Munster, with joy, but with an expression of indignation 
by the Connacians, who became loud in their reprobation of Nial's 
partiality. Nial now informed the national estates, that by the con- 
curi'ence of the council of his ministers, he had appoined his son, 
Maine, Ai'd Comhairce, or sole regent of Ireland, with full powers 
to govern the nation, during his absence in France. To this chief- 
tain he assigned, as a royal domain, that tract of country, that is 
now comprehended in the county of Longford, which remained in 
the possession of his posterity, the O'Farrell's, M'Gawleys, O'Quins, 
and O'Dalys, until the invasion of Henry II. This great and 
powerful sovereign, whose exploits raised the military glory of 
Ireland, to the highest pinnacle of fame, had eight legitimate sons, 
"four of whom," says Dr. O'Halloran, "remained in Meath and 
its environs ; the others acquired possessions in the north. The issue 
of these eight sons, have been distinguished by the titles of the 
Northern and Southern Hy-Nials, from the situation of their ter- 
ritories, with respect to each other. Maine, Loaghaire, Connal- 
Criomthan, and Fiacha, with their posterities, settled in Meath, and 
these are called the southern Hy-Nials ; sometimes Clana-Coleman, 
from Coleman the Great; sometimes Cincal Slaine, from Aodh 
Slaine. The posterity of Eogan, Connell Galban, Carbre, and 
Eana, are the northern Hy-Nials." On this occasion, he read his 
will to the national assembly, by which he bequeathed lands and 
moveables to all his children. 

Eogan, the great progenitor of the illustrious O'Nials, names that 
are associated with the proudest events that embellish our annals, 
while they shine on as lights to chivalric enterprize, and unquench- 
able mementos of bravery and heroism, was allotted, as his patri- 
mony, the entire county of Tyrone. Connell's portion, consisted of 
the present county of Donegal, which is still called, in the Irish 
language, Tir Connell, or the country of Connell. In after times, 
the descendants of this prince assumed the name of O'Donnell, in 
honor of one of their ancestors. Carbre, the eldest son of the 



255 

monarch Nial, from whom the M'Guires of Fermanagh, were 
descended, was put in possession of the tracts of country bordering 
on Lough Erne. Nial, having thus settled the internal affairs of his 
kingdom, sailed to Scotland, from which country, with a numerous 
fleet and mighty army, he proceeded to France, where he safely 
landed without opposition.* 

Nial, meeting no enemy on the French coast to retard his pro- 
gress, commenced his march for Tours, where the Irish garrison 
was then reduced to the greatest extremity, by the besieging Romans. 
But on the approach of the Irish monarch, with his vast army, the 
enemy hastily abandoned their works, and retreated beyond the 
Loire. 

At Tours, Nial resolved to afford some repose to his army, in 
order that they might alleviate the fatigues of their voyage, and gain 
new spirit for the approaching campaign. 

But the glorious reign of Nial, was now drawing to a close, and 
that brilliant career of conquest and triumph, whose splendors must 
ever illuminate the history of Ireland, was arrested by the vile hand 
of an assassin. Gabhran, the prince of the Dal Riada, gave, 
unknown to Nial, a subordinate command in his army to Eochaidh, 
the deposed king of Leinster. This prince, cherishing the most 
rancorous revenge in his heart, formed the determination of making 
the monarch, the appeasing victim of his resentment. An oppor- 
tunity soon offered, for carrying the infamous designs of his treason 
and treachery into execution. He observed, that the monarch was 
in the habit of amusing himself, by fishing in the Loire. One day, 
while Nial was engaged in this pastime, without the attendance of 
any of his suit, Eochaidh concealed himself behind a tree, where, 
aiming an arrow at him, it pierced his heart, and deprived him in- 

* As the O'Nials were the most illustrious of the Milesian Princes, and the last 
Irish chieftains that yielded to the dominion of England, we subjoin, from the 
notes appended to a beautiful poem, entitled the " Grave of O'JViel," written by 
Hugh Clarke, Esq., of Dublin, in 1825, a genealogical account of the family, from 
the last legitimate remnant of that regal stock, the late Edmund of O'Niel, of 
Green Castle, County of Donegal, and Charles O'Niel, of Banville, County of 
Down.. The family of Earl O'Kiel, were the offspring of illicit love. 

" Edmund O'Niel, the son of Bryan O'Niel, son of Edmund, son of Edmund 
Gar, (the good and heroic,) son of Phelim Ceact, (the powerful,) prince of Tyrone, 
son of Con Bocach, (who died A. D. 1.559.) son of Con, king of Ulster, who, in 
1489, founded the Franciscan monastery of Ballynassagert, in Tyrone, murdered 
by the English in 1493 : he was the son of Henry, king of Ulster, died in 1489, 
son of Owen, who, in 1432, was inaugurated as kmg of Ulster, " Lede na Righ," 
(the stone of kings,) died in 1456, son of Nial Oge, king of Ulster, died in 
1402, son of Nial More, (the great,) king of Ulster, died in 1397, son of Hugh, 
king of Ulster, died in 1364, who was the son of Donald O'Niel, king of Ulster, 
died in 1325, son of Bryan Cathaan Dun, king of Ulster, who fell at the battle of 
Down, 1260. He was the son of Nial Roe, prince of Tyrone, son of Hugh, the 
son of Murtagh, the son of Tiege Glinn, the son of Connor na Feodhga, the 
son of Flaithbhiastach, the son of Donnel, the son of Hugh Athlamh, the son 
of Flathberlach, the son of Murtagh, the son of Donal, of Armagh, 158th monarch 
of Ireland, died in 864, the son of Murtagh, ihe son of Nial Glandabh, (the black 
knee,) monarch, died in 951, son of Hugh, the monarch, died 825, son of Nial, 
died 791, son of Fengoile, the son of Maolduine, son of Nialfilugh, son of Hugh, 
son of Donal, son of Murtagh, son of Murierdoch, son of Owen, son of Nial, the 
great monarch of the nine hostages, who was the eighth descendant from the 
magnanimous hero, Con, of the hundred battles, the direct successor of Heremon." 



256 

stantly of life. Thus fell Nial the Grand, in the twenty-seventh year of 
a more triumphant and splendid reign, than any recorded in our his- 
tory. His soul was the seat of courage, patriotism, and magnanimity; 
and if he was often swayed by ambition, it was that ambition, that 
predominated over the miiid of the hero, and led him on to deeds of 
glorious valour, and to feats of gigantic chivalry, performed to 
aggrandize his country, and elevate her military fame to the highest 
eminence of renown.* 

The assassin, after perpetrating the' barbarous deed, fled to the 
coast, from the fury of Nial's soldiers, and embarked for Scotland. 

Prince Dathy, the nephew of the late monarch, was promoted, by 
the Irish army, to the chief command. 

This chieftain, aspiring to the throne, came to the determination 
of relinquishing the conquests of his uncle in France, and of return- 
ing to Ireland, with a gallant army, entirely devoted to his interest, 
MoUoy informs us, that Dathy caused his uncle's body to be 
embalmed, and brought home to Ireland, where, having been 
honored with the highest funeral ceremony, it was interred in the 
royal mausoleum of Cruachan. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Credibility of the History of Pagan Ireland. 

In support of the authenticity and credit that are due to the rela- 
tions of our early annalists, and to demonstrate the antiquity of our 
literary, social, and legal institution, we extract from Moore's His- 
tory of Ireland, the following excellent disquisition. 

" Before entering upon the new epoch of Irish history, which is 
about to open upon us with the introduction of Christianity, a review 
of the general features, of the period over which we have passed, 
may be found not uninteresting or unuseful. With regard to the 
first and most material question, the authenticity of those records, 
on which the foregoing brief sketch of Pagan Ireland is founded, it 
is essential, in the first place, to distinguish clearly, between what 
are called the Bardic Historians, — certain metrical writers, who 
flourished from the ninth to the eleventh century, — and those regular 
chroniclers or annalists, of whom a long series was continued down, 
there is every reason to believe, from very early ages, and whose 
successive records have been embodied and transmitted to us in the 

* " He had pushed the glory of his subjects higher, and extended it further 
abroad, than any king of Ireland had done before him. The posterity of this king 
appropriated the monarchy in a manner so much to themselves, that almost all the 
following monarchs of Ireland, were descended from him." — Warner. 



257 

Annals of Tigernacli,* in those of the Four Masters, t of Inisfallen, 
of Ulster, I and many others. § 

To the metrical historians above mentioned is to be attributed the 
credit, if not of originally inventing, at least of amplifying and 
embellishing, that tale of the Milesian colonization, which so many 
grave and respectable writers have, since their time, adopted. In 
his zeal for the credit of this national legend, the late learned 
librarian of Stowe, has endeavored to enlist some of the more early 
Irish poets in its support. || On his own showing, however, it is 
manifest that in no Irish writings before those of Maolmiira,^} who 
died towards the close of the ninth century, are any traces whatever 
of the Milesian fable to be found. 

There appears little doubt, indeed, that to some metrical writers 
of the ninth century, the first rudiments of this wild romance, 
respecting the origin of the Irish people are to be assigned ; that 
succeeding writers took care to amplify and embellish the original 
sketch ; and that in the hands of the author or authors of the Psalter 
of Cashel,** it assumed that full blown form of fiction and extrava- 

* In the Annals of the Four Masters for the year 1088, the death of this annal- 
ist is thus recorded : — " Tiarernach O'Braoin, Comorban, or successor of Kieran 
of Clonmacnois, and of St. Coman, (i. c. Abbott of Clonmacnois and Roscom- 
mon,) a learned lecturer and historian." 

t Compiled in the seventeenth century, by Michael O'Clery, with the assistance 
of three other antiquaries, and " chiefly drawn," says Harris, " from the annals 
of Clonmacnois, Inisfall, and Senat, as well as from other approved and ancient 
chronicles of Ireland." For a fuller account of the various sources from whence 
these records were derived, see Mr. Petrie's Remarks on the History and Authen- 
ticity of the Autograph Original, of the Annals of the Four Masters, now deposited 
in the library of the R. I. A. Academy. 

t Published, for the first time, by Dr. O'Connor, from a Bodleian manuscript, 
of the year 1215. 

§ A long list of these various books of Annals, may be found in Nicholson's 
Historical Library, chap. 2.; also in the preface of Keating's History, xxi. 

II For the very slight grounds, or, rather, mere pretence of grounds, upon which 
Dr. O'Connor lays claim to Fiech and Confealad, Irish poets of tJie sixth and 
seventh centuries, as authorities for the Milesian story, see, among other passages, 
Ep. Nunc, xxxiv., Prol. 2. xv. xxvi. Having once claimed them, thus gratuitously, 
as favoring his views of the subject, he continues, constantly after, to refer to 
them, as concurrent authorities, with those later bardic historians, in whom alone 
the true origin and substance of the whole story, is to be found. 

The Psalter-na-Rann, attributed to the Culdee, ^ngus, which is another of the 
writings appealed to by Dr. O'Connor, on this point, was, however, not the work 
of that pious author, (who wrote solely on religious subjects,) nor of a date earlier, 
as is evident, than the tenth century. See Lanigan, Ecclesiast. Hist., chap. xx. 
note 107. 

TT This writer, who died in the 3'^ear 884, was the author of a poem beginning, 
" Let us sing the origin of the Gadelians:" in which, deriving the origin of the 
Milesians from Japhet, son of Noah, he gives an account of the peregrinations of 
the ancestors of the Irish, from the dispersion at Babel, to the arrival in Ireland. 
Contemporary with Maolmura, was Flann Mac Lonan, of whose compositions 
there remain, says Mr. O'Reilly, three poems, which " are to be found in the 
account of the spreading branches of Heber, son of Milesius, in the Leabhar 
Muimhneach, or Munster Book." 

** From this work, which was compiled, about the beginning of the tenth 
century, by Cormac Mac Culinan, bishop of Cashel and king of Munster, Keating 
professes to have drawn a great part of his History of Ireland. " Since most," 
says Keating, " of the authentic records of Ireland, are composed in dann, or 
verse, I shall receive them as the principal testimonies to follow in compiling the 
following history ; for, notwithstanding that some of the chronicles of Ireland, 
33 



258 ^ 

gance, in which it has ever since flourished. It is worthy of remark, 
too, that the same British writer, Nenniiis, who furnished Geofi'ry 
of Monmouth, with his now exploded fables of the descent of the 
Britons, from king Brute and the Trojans, was the first, also, who 
put forth the tale of the Scythian ancestors of the Irish, and of their 
coming, in the fourth age of the world, by the way of Africa and 
Spain, into Hibernia. Having conversed, as he himself tells us, 
with the most learned among the Scots,* and been by them, it is 
evident, informed of their early traditions, respecting a colony from 
Spain, he was tempted to eke out their genealogy for them, by 
extending it as far as Scythia, and the Red Sea, just as he had 
provided the Britons with Trojan progenitors, under the command 
of king Brute, from Greece. 

To our metrical historians, may be assigned also the credit of 
inventing that specious system of chronology, upon which the fabric 
of their fabled antiquity entirely rest, and which, though well cal- 
culated to eifect the object of its inventors, — that of carrying back 
to remote times, the date of the Milesian dynasty, — proves them not 
to have been over-scrupulous in the means they used for that 
purpose.t It is, indeed, as I have already, more than once, 
remarked, far less in the events themselves, than in the remote date 
assigned to those events, that much of the delusion attributed in gen- 
eral to Irish history lies. The ambition of a name ancient as the 
world, and the lax, accommodating chronology, which is found ever 
ready, in the infancy of science, to support such pretensions, has 
led the Irish, as it has led most other nations, to antedate their own 
existence and fiime.| 

differ from these poelical records in some cases, yet the testimony of the annals 
that were written in verse, is not for that reason invaUd." — Preface. About the 
middle of the tenth century, flourished Eochaidli O'Floinn, whose poems, relating 
to the marvels of the first Irish colonies, the battles between the Nemethians and 
the sea rovers, the destruction of Conan's Tower, are still preserved in the books 
of Glendalough, Ballymote, and Leacan, tlie Dinn Seanchas, Book of Invasions, 
Slc. 

* '*' Sic mihi peritissimi Scottorura nuntiaverunt." Nennius wrote about the 
year 858. 

t The extravagant chronology of the metrical catalogues of kings, given by 
Gilla-Coeman, and other later bards, is fully acknowledged by Dr. O'Connor him- 
self: — " Hasc plane indicant nostras, de Scotorum origine, et primo in Hiberniam 
ac inde in Britannian adventu, traditiones metricas historica esse fide suffultas ; 
sed dum bardi prodigiosam antiquitatem, majoribus adscribere conarentur id tan- 
tum fingendi licentia efficere ut quas illustrare debuerant veritates offuscarent, et 
dum Hiberniam, fabulis nobilitare cupiunt ipsi sibi fidem ita derogant ut postea, 
cum ad tempora historica descendunt, etsi vera dixerint, nimia severitate redar- 
guantur." — Prol. 2. xlvi. 

It was by Coeman, notwithstanding, that the author of Ogygia, chiefly regulated 
his chronology ; and the erudite efforts which he makes to reconcile his system to 
common sense show how laboriously, sometimes, the learned can go astray. " It 
is no wonder," says Mr. O'Connor of Balenagare, " that Gilla-Coeman, and many 
other of our old antiquaries, have fallen into mistakes and anachronisms : to their 
earliest reports Mr. O'Flaherty gave too much credit, and to their later accounts, 
Sir James Ware, gave too little." — Reflections on the History of Ireland, Collectan. 
No. 10. 

t " The Danes," saith Diido S. Quintin, " derived themselves from the Danai ; 
the Prussians from Prusias, king of Bithynia, who brought the Greeks along with 
them. Only the Scots and Irish had the wit to derive themselves from the Greeks 
and Egyptians together." — Jlntiq. of British Churches. 



259 

Together with the primitive mode of numbering ages and ascer- 
taining the dates of public events, by the successions of kings and 
the generations of men, the ancient Irish possessed also a measure 
of time in their two great annual festivals of Baal and of Samhin, 
the recurrence of which at certain fixed periods furnished points, in 
each year, from whence to calculate. How far even History may 
advance to perfection where no more regular chronology exists, 
appears in the instance of Thucydides, who was able to enrich the 
world with his " treasure for all time" before any era from whence 
to date had yet been established in Greece. It was, however, in 
this \ery mode of computing by regal successions that the great 
source of the false chronology of the Irish antiquaries lay. From 
the earliest times, the government of that country consisted of a 
cluster of kingdoms, where, besides the Monarch of the whole island 
and the four provincial Rings, there was also a number of infei'ior 
sovereigns, or Dynasts, who each affected the regal name and power. 
Such a state of things it was that both tempted and enabled the ge- 
nealogists to construct that fabric of fictitious antiquity by which 
they imposed not only on others, but on themselves. Having such 
an abundance of royal blood thus placed at their disposal, the means 
afforded to them of filling up the genealogical lines, and thereby ex- 
tending back the antiquity of the monarchy, were far too tempting 
to be easily resisted. Accordingly, — as some of those most sanguine 
in the cause of our antiquities have admitted, — not only were kings 
who had been contemporaries made to succeed each other, but even 
princes, acknowledged only by their respective factions, were pro- 
moted to the rank of legitimate monarchs, and took their places in 
the same regular succession.* By no other expedient, indeed, could 
so marvellous a list of Royalty have been fabricated, as that which 
bestows upon Ireland, before the time of St. Patrick, no less than a 
hundred and thirty-six monarchs of Milesian blood ; thereby extend- 
ing the date of the Milesian or Scotic settlement to so remote a 
period as more than a thousand years before the birth of Christ. 

Between the metrical historians, or rather romancers, of the mid- 
dle ages, and those regular annalists who, at the same and a later 
period, but added their own stock of contemporary records to that 
consecutive series of annals which had been delivered down, in all 
probability, for many ages, — between these two sources of evidence, 
a wide distinction, as I have already inculcated, is to be drawn.t 

* A nearly similar mode of lengthening out their regal lists was practised ■ 
among the Egyptians. " Their kings," says Bryant, " had many names and 
titles ; these titles have been branched out into persons, and inserted in the lists 
of real monarchs ; .... by which means the chronology of Egypt has been 
greatly embarrassed." 

t Till of late years they have been, by most writers, both English and Irish, 
confounded. Thus the sensible author of "An Analysis of the Antiquities of 
Ireland," who, though taking a just and candid view of his subject, had no means 
of access to the documents which alone could strengthen and illustrate it, has, in 
the following passage, mixed up together, as of equal importance, our most fabu- 
lous compilations and most authentic annals : — " Let us have faithful copies, with 
just versions, of the hidden records of Keating, of the Psalter of Cashel, of the 
Book of Lecan, of the Annals of Inisfallen, of those of the Four Masters, and of 
every other work which may be judged to be of importance. The requisition is 



260 

It is true that, in some of the collections of Annals that have come 
down to us. the fabulous wonders of the first four ages of the world, 
from Csesara down to the landing of the sons of Milesius, have been, 
in all their absurdity, preserved, — as they are, indeed, in most his- 
tories of the country down to the present day. It is likewise true, 
that by most of the annalists the same deceptive scheme of chrono- 
logy has been adopted, by which the lists of the kings preceding the 
Christian era are lengthened out so preposterously into past time. 
But, admitting to the full all such deductions from the authority of 
these records, more esfJecially as regards their chronology for the 
times preceding our era, still their pretensions, on the whole, to rank 
as f\iir historical evidence, can hardly, on any just grounds, be ques- 
tioned. 

From the objections that have just been alleged against most of 
the other Books of Annals, that of Tigernach is almost wholly free; 
as, so far from placing in the van of history the popular fictions of 
his day, this chronicler has passed them over significantly in silence; 
and beginning his Annals with a comparatively late monarch, Rim- 
boath, pronounces the records of the Scots, previously to that period, 
to have been all uncertain.* The feeling of confidence which so 
honest a commencement inspires, is fully justified by the tone of ve- 
racity which pervades the whole of his statements ; and, according 
as he approaclies the Christian era, and, still more, as he advances 
into that period, the remarkable consistency of his chronology, his 
knowledge and accuracy in synchronizing Irish events with those of 
the Roman History, and the uniformly dry matter of fact which 
forms the staple of his details, all bespeak for these records a confi- 
dence of no ordinary kind; and render them, corroborated as they 
are by other Annals of the same grave description, a body of evi- 
dence, even as to the earlier parts of Irish history, far more trust- 
worthy and chronological than can be adduced for some of the most 
accredited transactions of that early period of Grecian story, when, 
as we know, the accounts of great events were kept by memory 
alone. t 

simple as it is reasonable. They have long amused us with declamations on the 
inestimable value of these literary treasures ; and surely, after having excited our 
curiosity, their conduct will be inexcusable, if they do not in the end provide for 
its gratification." 

* Doctor O'Connor, it is right to mention, is of opinion that Tigernach had, 
like all the other annalists, begun his records from the creation of the w^orld, and 
that the commencement of his manuscript has been lost. But, besides that the 
view taken by the annalist as to the uncertainty of all earlier monuments, sufli- 
ciently accounts for his not ascending anj'- higher, all the different manu- 
scripts, it appears, of his Annals agree in not carrying the records farther back 
than A. C. 305. 

t " It is strongly implied by his (Paiisanias's) expressions, that the written 
register of the Olympian victors was not so old as Chorcebus, but that the account 
of the first Olympiads had been kept by memory alone. Indeed, it appears certain 
from all memorials of the best authority, that writing was not common in Greece 
so early." — Mitford, vol. i. chap. 3. 

" When we consider that this was the first attempt (the Olympionics of Timseus 
of Sicily) that we know of, to establish an era, and that it was in the 129th Olym- 
piad , what are we to think of the preceding Greek chronology.'^" — Wood's En- 
quiry into the Life, 8fC., of Homer. 



261 . 

A learned writer, who, by the force of evidence, has been con- 
strained to admit the antiquity of the lists of Irish kings, has yet the 
inconsistency to deny to this people the use of letters before the 
coming of St. Patrick. It is to be recollected that the regal lists 
which he thus supposes to have been but orally transmitted, and 
which, from the commencement of the Christian era, are shown to 
have been correctly kept, consist of a long succession of princes, in 
genealogical order, with, moreover, the descent even of the collateral 
branches in all their different ramifications.* Such is the nature of 
the royal lists which, according to this sapient supposition, must 
have been transmitted correctly, from memory to memory, through 
a lapse of many centuries; and such the weakness of that sort of 
scepticism, — not unmixed sometimes with a lurking spirit of unfair- 
ness, — which, while straining at imaginary difficulties on one side of 
a question, is prepared to swallow the most indigestible absurdities 
on the other. And here a consideration on the general subject of 
Irish antiquities presents itself, which, as it has had great weight in 
determining my own views of the matter, may, perhaps, not be with- 
out some influence on the mind of my reader. In the course of this 
chapter shall be laid before him a view of the state in which Ireland 
was found in the fifth century, — of the condition of her people, their 
forms of polity, institutions, and usages at that period when the 
Christian faith first visited her shores; and when, by the light which 
then broke in upon her long seclusion, she became, for the first time, 
in any degree known to the other nations of Europe. In that very 
state, political and social, in which her people were then found, with 
the very same laws, forms of government, manners and habits, did 
they remain, without change or innovation, for the space of seven 
hundred years; and though, at the end of that long period, brought 
abjectly under a foreign yoke, yet continued unsubdued in their at- 
tachment to the old lav/ of their country, nor would allow it to be 
superseded by the code of, the conqueror for nearly five hundred 
years after. 

It is evident that to infuse into any order of things so pervading a 

* "In Ireland, the genealogies which are preserved, could not have heen hand- 
ed down in such an extensive, and at the same time so correct a manner, without 
this acquaintance with letters, as the tables embrace too great a compass to retain 
them in the memory ; and as, without the assistance of these elements of know- 
ledge, there would have been no sufficient inducement to bestow on them such 
peculiar attention." — Webb, Analysis of the Jlntiq. of Ireland. Another well in- 
formed writer thus enforces the same view : — " The Irish genealogical tables, 
which are still extant, carry intrinsic proofs of their being genuine and authentic, 
by their chronological accuracy and consistency with each other through all the 
lines collateral, as well as direct; a consistency not to be accounted for on the 
supposition of their being fabricated in a subsequent age of darkness and igno- 
rance, but easily explained if we admit them to have been drawn from the real 
source of family records and truth." — Enquiry concerning the original of the Scots 
in Britain, by Barnard, Bishop of Killaloe. 

" Foreigners may imagine that it is granting too much to the Irish to allow them 
lists of kings more ancient than those of any other country in modern Europe ; but 
the singularly compact and remote situation of that island, and its freedom from 
Roman conquest, and from the concussions of the fall of the Roman empire, may 
infer this allowance not too much. But all contended for is the list of kings so 
easily preserved by the repetition of bards at high solemnities, and some grand 
events of history." — Pinkerton, Enquiry into the Hist, of Scotland, part iv. chap. i. 



262 

principle of stability, must have been the slow work of time alone; 
nor could any system of laws and usages have taken so strong a hold 
of the hearts of a whole people as those of the Irish had evidently 
obtained at the time of the coming of St. Patrick, without the lapse 
of many a foregone century to enable them to strike so deeply their 
roots. In no country, as we shall see, was Christianity received 
with so fervid a welcome ; but in none also had she to make such 
concessions to old established superstitions, or to leave so much of 
those religious forms and prejudices, which she found already sub- 
sisting, unaltered. Nor was it only over the original Irish themselves 
that these prescriptive laws had thus by long tenure gained an as- 
cendency ; as even those foreign tribes, — for the most part, as we 
have seen, Teutonic, — who obtained a settlement among them, had 
been forced, though conquerors, to follow in the current of long- 
established customs ;* till, as was said of the conquering colonists of 
an after day, they grew, at length, to be more Hibernian than the 
Hibernians themselves. The same ancient forms of religion and of 
government were still preserved; the language of the multitude soon 
swept away that of the mere caste who ruled them, and their entire 
exemption from Roman dominion left them safe from even a chance 
of change. t 

How far the stern grasp of Roman authority might have succeeded 
in effacing from the minds of the Irish their old habits and predilec- 
tions, it is needless now to inquire. But had we no other proof of 
the venerable antiquity of their nation, this fond fidelity to the past, 
this retrospective spirit, which is sure to be nourished in the minds 
of a people by long-hallowed institutions, would, in the absence of 
all other means of proof, be fully sufficient for the purpose. When, 
in addition to this evidence impressed upon the very character of her 
people, we find Ireland furnished also with all that marks an ancient 
nation, — unnumbered monuments of other days and belonging to 
unknown creeds, — a language the oldest of all European tongues 
still spoken by her people, and Annals written in that language of 
earlier date than those of any other northern nation of Europe,| 
tracing the line of her ancient kings, in chronological order, up as 
far at least as the commencement of the Christian era, — when we 
find such a combination of circumstances, all bearing in the same 

* The consequences of this " Oriental inflexibility," — as Niebhur expresses it, 
in speaking of the S5?riaiis, — are thus described by Camden: — "The Irish are so 
wedded to their own customs, that they not only retain them themselves, but cor- 
rupt the English that come amon-g them." 

t It has been falsely asserted by some writers, that the Romans visited, and 
even conquered, Ireland. The old chronicler Wyntown, carries them to that 
country even so early as the first century ; and Gueudeville, the wretched com- 
piler of the Atlas Historique, has, in his map of Ireland, represented the country 
as reduced within the circle of the Roman sway. The pretended monk Richard, 
also, who, thanks to the credulity of historians, was permitted to establish a new 
Roman province, Vespasiana, to the north of Antonine's Wall, has, in like m-an- 
ner, made a present to Constantine the Great of the tributary submission of Ire- 
land. " A. M. 4307, Constantinus, qui Magnus postea dicitur . . . cui se sponte 
tributariam ofFert Hibernia." 

t " Cseterarum enim gentium Septentrionalium antiquitates scriptas longe 
recentiores esse existimo, si cum Hibernicis cornparentur." — Dr. O'Connor, Ep. 
Nunc. xix. 



263 

direction, all confirming the impression derived from the historical 
character of the people, — it is surely an abuse of the right of doubt- 
ing, to reject lightly such an amount of evidence, or resist tiie obvi- 
ous conclusion to which it all naturally leads. 

Among the most solemn of the customs observed in Ireland, durinc 
the times of paganism, was that of keeping, in each of the provinces, 
as well as at the seat of the monarchial government, a public Psal- 
ter, or register, in which all passing transactions of any interest were 
noted down. This, like all their other ancient observances, contin- 
ued to be retained after the introduction of Christianity ; and to the 
great monasteries, all over the country, fell the task of watching 
over and continuing these records.* That, in their zeal for religion, 
they should have destroyed most of those documents which referred 
to the dark rites and superstitions of heathenism, appears highly 
credible. t But such records as related chiefly to past political events 
were not obnoxious to the same hostile feeling ; and these the monks 
not only, in most instances, preserved, but carried on a continuation 
of them, from age to age, in much the same tone of veracious dry- 
ness as characterizes that similar series of records, the Saxon Chron- 
icle. In like manner, too, as the English annalists are known, in 
most instances, to have founded their narrations upon the Anglo- 
Saxon documents derived from their ancestors, so each succeeding 
Irish chronicler transmitted the records which he found existing, 
along with his own ; thus giving to the whole series, as has been well 
said of the Saxon Chronicle, the force of contemporary evidence. J 

The precision with which the Irish annalists have recorded, to the 
month, day, and hour, an eclipse of the sun, which took place in the 
year 664, affords both an instance of the exceeding accuracy with 
which they observed and noticed passing events, and also an undeni- 
able proof that the annals for that year, though long since lost, must 
have been in the hands of those who have transmitted to us that re- 
markable record. In calculating the period of the same eclipse, the 
Venerable Bede§ — led astray, it is plain, by his ignorance of that 
yet undetected error of the Dionysian cycle, by which the equation 
of the motions of the sun and moon was aftected, — exceeded the true 
time of the event by several days. Whereas the Irish chronicler, 
wholly ignorant of the rules of astronomy, and merely recording 
what he had seen passing before his eyes, — namely, that the eclipse 

" " Alibi indicavi celebriora Hiberniae monasteria amanuensem aluisse, Scribhinn 
appellatum." — Rer. Hlh. Script. Ep. Mine. 

t " Of the works of the Druids, as we are informed from the Lecan Records, by 
the learned Donald Mac Firbiss, no fewer than 180 tracts were committed to the 
flames at the instance of St. Patrick. Such an example set the converted Chris- 
tians to work in all parts, till, in the end, all the remains of the Druidic supersti- 
tion were utterly destroyed." — Dissert, on the Hist, of Ireland. 

t " The annals of these writers are, perhaps, but Latin translations of Anglo- 
Saxon Chronicles .... at least, the existence of similar passages, yet in Anglo- 
Saxon, is one of the best proofs we can obtain of this curious fact, "that the Latin 
narrations of all our chroniclers, of the events preceding the Conquest, are in gen- 
eral translations or abridgments from the Anglo-Saxon documents of our ances- 
tors. This fact is curious, because, wherever it obtains, it gives to the whole series 
of our annals the force of contemporary evidence." — Turner, Hist, of Anglo- 
Saxons, book vi. chap. 7. 

§ Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. iii. can. 27. 



264 

occurred, about the tenth hour, on the 3d of May, in the year 664, — " 
has transmitted a date to posterity, of which succeeding astronomers 
have acknowledged the accuracy. 

It may be said, that this observation was supplied and interpolated 
by some later hand ; but this would only rescue us from one difficulty 
to involve us as deeply in another; as it must, in that case, be ad- 
mitted that among the Irish of the middle ages were to be found 
astronomers sufficiently learned to be able to anticipate that advanced 
state of knowledge which led to the correction of the Dionysian 
period, and to ascertain, to the precise hour, a long-past eclipse, 
which the learned Bede, as we have seen, was unable to calculate to 
the day. But how far, at a distance nearly two centuries from the 
time of this eclipse, were even the best Irish scholars from being 
capable of any such calculations may be judged from a letter, still 
extant, on this very subject of eclipses, whicli was addressed to 
Charlemagne by an Irish doctor of the ninth century, named Dun- 
gal.* The letter is in reply to a question proposed by the emperor 
to the most eminent scholars of that day in Europe, respecting the 
appearance, as had been alleged, of two solar eclipses, in the course 
of the year 810; and the Irish doctor, though so far right as to ex- 
press his doubts that these two eclipses had been visible, is unable, 
it is plain, to assign any scientific reason for his opinion. Down to 
a much later period, indeed, so little had the Irish scholars advanced 
in this science, that, as it appears from the second part of the Annals 
of Inisfallen, they had one yeart experienced much difficulty and 
controversy before they could succeed even in fixing Easter Day. 

It may be, therefore, taken for granted, that it was not from any 
scientific calculation of after times, but from actual and personal 
observation at the moment that this accurate date of the eclipse in 
664 was derived.^ With equal clearness does it follow that some 
written record of the observation must have reached those annalists, 
who, themselves ignorant of the mode of calculating such an event, 
have transmitted it accurately to our days as they received it. There 
are still earlier eclipses, — one as far back as A. D. 496, — the years 
of whose appearance we find noted down by the chroniclers with 
equal correctness : and so great was the regularity with which, 
through every succeeding age, all such changes in the ordinary as- 
pect of the heavens was observed and registered, that, by means of 
these records, the chronologist is enabled to trace the succession, 
not only of the monarchs of Ireland, but of the inferior kings, bish- 
ops, and abbots, from the first introduction of Christianity, down to 
the occupation of the country by the English. 

* Epist. Dungali Reclusi ad Carol. Magnum de duplici Solis Eclipsi, Ann. 810. 
This letter may be found in D'Achery's Spicilegium, torn, iii., together with some 
critical remarks upon it by Ismael Bullialdus, the learned champion of the Philo- 
laic system, whom D'Achery had consulted on the subject. 

t Rer. Hibern. Script. Prol. 2. cxxxvi. Dr. O'Connor refers, for the above 
record, to the year 1444 ; but this is evidently a typographical error, such as abound, 
I regret to say, throughout this splendid work, — the continuation of the Annals of 
Inisfallen having come down no further than the year 1320. 

t Annals of Tigernach. For the substance of the argument, founded upon this 
record, I am indebted to Dr. O'Connor, Prol. 2. cxxxiv. 



265 

Having, therefore, in the accurate date of the eclipse of 664, and 
in its correct transmission to succeeding times, so strong an evidence 
of the existence of a written record at that period; and knowing, 
moreover, that of simiUir phenomena in tlie two preceding centuries, 
the memory has also heen transmitted down to after ages, it is not 
surely assuming too much to take for granted that the transmission 
was effected in a similar manner; and that the medium of written 
record, through which succeeding annalists were made acquainted 
with the day and hour of the solar eclipse of 664,* conveyed to them 
also the following simple memorandum, which occurs in their chron- 
icles for the year 496. — "Death of Mac-Cuilin, bishop of Lusk. — 
An eclipse of the sun — The pope Gelasius died." 

It thus appears pretty certain, that, as far back as the century in 
which Christianity became the established faith of Ireland, the prac- 
tice of chronicling public events may be traced ; and I have already 
shown, that the same consecutive chain of records carries the links 
back, with every appearance of historical truth, to at least the com- 
mencement of the Christian era, if not to a century or two beyond 
that period. To attempt to fix, indeed, the precise time when the 
confines of history began to be confused with those of fable, is a task 
in Irish antiquities, as in all others, of mere speculation and conjec- 
ture.t It has been seen that Tigernach, by far the best informed 
and most judicious of our annalists, places the dawn of certainty in 
Irish history at so early a period as the reign of Kimbaoth, about 
300 years before the birth of Christ : and it is certain that the build- 
ing of the celebrated Palace of Emania, during that monarch's reign, 
by establishing an era, or fixed point of time, from whence chrono- 
logy might begin to calculate, gives to the dates and accounts of the 
succeeding reigns an appearance of accuracy not a little imposing. 
This apparent exactness, however, in the successions previous to the 
Christian era, will not stand the test of near inquiry. For the pur- 

* The dates assigned to the several eclipses are, in this and other instances, con- 
firmed by their accordance with the catalogues of eclipses composed by modern 
astronomers, with those in the learned work of the Benedictines, and other such 
competent authorities. There is even an eclipse, it appears, noticed in the Annals 
of Ulster, ad. ann. 674, which has been omitted in L\9rt de verifier les Dates. — Ep. 
Nunc. xciv. 

t According to Mr. O'Connor of Balenacgare, in his later and more moderate 
stage of antiquarianism, " it is from the succession of Feredach the Just, and the 
great revolution soon after, under Tuathal the Acceptable, that we can date exact- 
ness in our Heathen History." — Reflections on the Hist, of Ireland. The period 
here assigned commences about A. D. 8.5. A Right Reverend writer, however, 
in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, carries his faith in Irish chrono- 
logy much further. "A general agreement," says Bishop Barnard, " appears in 
the names and lineage of that long series of princes that succeeded and descended 
from the first conqueror down to the fifth century ; and the descent of the collateral 
branches is traced up to the royal stem with such precision and consistency, as 
shows it to have been once a matter of public concern. The later bards and seana- 
chies could not have fabricated tables that should have stood the test of critical ex- 
amination as these will do ; from whence I infer, that they have been a true tran- 
script from ancient records then extant, but since destroyed. I am ready to admit, 
however, that the transactions of those times are mixed with the fictions of later 
ages .... it is, therefore, neither to be received nor rejected in the gross, but to be 
read with a sceptical caution." — Enquiry concerning the Original, S^c, by Barnard, 
Bishop of Killaloe. 

34 



266 

pose of making out a long line of kings before that period, a decep- 
tive scheme of chronology has been adopted ; and all the efforts made 
by O'Flaherty and others to connect the traditions of those times 
into a series of regular history, but serve to prove how hopeless, or, 
at least, wholly uncertain, is the task. 

As we descend towards the first age of Christianity, events stand 
out from the ground of tradition more prominently, and begin to 
take upon them more of the substance of historical truth. The re- 
storation, under Eochy Feyloch, of the ancient Pentarchy, which 
had been abolished by the monarch Hugony, — the important ad- 
vance made in civilization during the reign of Conqnovar Mac Ness, 
by committing the laws of the country to writing, — these and other 
signal events, almost coeval with the commencement of Christianity, 
border so closely upon that period to which, it has been shown, 
written records most probably extended, as to be themselves all but 
historical. 

In corroboration of the view here taken of the authenticity of the 
Irish Annals, and of the degree of value and confidence which is due 
to them, I need but refer to an authority which, on such subjects, 
ranks among the highest. " The chronicles of Ireland," says Sir 
James Mackintosh, " written in the Irish language, from the second 
century to the landing of Henry Plantagenet, have been recently 
published, with the fullest evidence of their genuineness and exact- 
ness. The Irish nation, though they are robbed of many of their 
legends by this authentic publication, are yet by it enabled to boast 
that they possess genuine history several centuries more ancient than 
any other European nation possesses, in its present spoken lan- 
guage ; — they have exchanged their legendary antiquity for historical 
fame. Indeed, no other nation possesses any monument of its lite- 
rature, in its present spoken language, which goes back within sev- 
eral centuries of the beginning of ihese chronicles."* 

With the exception of the mistake into which Sir James Mackin- 
tosh has here, rather unaccountably, been led, in supposing that, 
among the written Irish chronicles which have come down to us, 
there are any so early as the second century, the ti-ibute paid by him 
to the authenticity and historical importance of these documentst 

* Hist, of Eng., vol. i. chap. 2. A writer in the Edin. Rev. No. xcii., (Sir James 
Mackintosh,) in speaking of Dr. O'Connor's work, tlius, in a similar manner, ex- 
presses himself: — " We have here the works of the ancient Irish historians, divested 
of modern fahle and romance; and whatever opinion may be formed of the early 
traditions they record, satisfactory evidence is aiForded that many facts they relate, 
long anterior to our earliest chroniclers, rest on contemporary authority . . . Some of 
Dr. O'Connor's readers may hesitate to admit the degree of culture and prosperity 
he claims for his countrymen; but no one, we think, can deny, after perusing his 
proofs, that the Irish were a lettered people, while the Saxons were still immersed 
in darkness and ignorance." I shall add one other tribute to the merit of Dr. O'Con- 
nor's work, coming from a source which highly enhances the value of the praise: — 
" A work," says Sir F. Palgrave, " which, wliether we consider the learning of the 
editor, the value of the materials, or the princely munificence of the Duke of Buck- 
ingham, at whose expense it was produced, is without a parallel in modern litera- 
ture." — Rise of the, English Commu7ivjealth. 

t How little, till lately, these Annals were known, even to some who have writ- 
ten most confidently respecting Ireland, may be seen by reference to a letter ad- 
dressed by Mr. O'Connor to General Vallancey, acknowledging his perusal then, 



267 

appears to me, in the highest degree, deserved ; and comes with the 
more authority, from a writer whose command over the wide domain 
of history enabled him fully to appreciate the value of any genuine 
addition to it. 

It has been thus clearly, as I conceive, demonstrated that our 
Irish Annals are no forgery of modern times; no invention, as has 
been so often alleged, by modern monks and versifiers : but, for the 
most part, a series of old authentic records, of which the transcripts 
have from age to age been delivered down to our own times. Though 
confounded ordinarily with the fabulous tales of the Irish Bards, 
these narrations bear on the face of them a character the very re- 
verse of poetical, and such as, in itself alone, is a sufficient guarantee 
of their truth. It has been shown, moreover, that the lists preserved 
of the ancient Irish kings (more ancient than those of any other 
country in modern Europe) are regulated by a system of chronology 
which, however in many respects imperfect, computes its dates in 
the ancient mode, by generations and successions ; and was founded 
upon the same measures of time — the lunar year, and the regular 
recurrence of certain periodical festivals — by which the Greeks, the 
Romans, and other great nations of antiquity, all computed the ear- 
lier stages of their respective careers. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



Accession of Dathy to the throne. — The mission of St. Palladius to Ireland. — He 
builds two churches in Drogheda, and one in Slane, in the County of Meath. — 
Dathy conquers a great part of England. — He invades France, and carries the 
terror of his arms to the foot of the Jilps, where he is killed by lightning, A. D. 
427. 

Dathy, being zealously supported by the army, was raised to the 
throne without opposition. He summoned, immediately after his 
accession, the national representatives to Tara, and announced to 
them his resolution of following up the plans of conquest which had 
been formed by his uncle Nial, against Britain and France. At this 
juncture, the internal anarchy and dissension that prevailed in Rome 
compelled the government to withdraw the greater part of their le- 
gions from Britian and Gaul ; so that the Irish monarch reasonably 
calculated on subjugating with ease the entire of the former, and a 
great portion of the latter country, to his dominion. 

After refitting his fleet and recruiting his army, he sailed for 
Scotland, from whence he purposed to penetrate into Britain. By 

for the first time, of the Annals of Tigernach and of Inisfallen, v;hich his venera- 
ble friend had lately lent h.\m.— Reflect, on Hist, of Ireland, Collect. ^o. 10. The 
ignorance of Mr. Beauford, too, a professed Irish antiquary, respecting the valua- 
ble work of Tigernach, is shown by the statement in his Druidism Revived, (Col- 
lectan. Hib. No. vii.) that the records of this annalist commence only at the fifth 
century, " without making the least mention of the pagan state of the Irish." 



268 

a preconcerted plan, the forces of the Dal Riada, and a large body 
of the Anglo Saxons joined him, on his landing on the Caledonian 
shore. At the head of this combined army, he broke down the wall 
which the Romans had rebuilt during Nial's absence in Gaul,* cap- 
tured the fortresses of the enemy on the frontiers, and entered Car- 
lisle as a conqueror. 

It is admitted that Dathy, in carrying fire and sword into Britain, 
evinced very little greatness or generosity; for the English annalists 
say, that he allowed his soldiers to plunder, and commit other vio- 
lent excesses. The Britons, thus driven to desperation by the licen- 
tious enormities of the Irish, sent messengers to Rome to claim 
assistance and protection. In conseqence~ of this application, a 
Roman legion landed in Britain, and, joining with the inhabitants, 
they attacked the Irish, who were dispersed over the country, and 
before they had time to concentrate, defeated them in several skir- 
mishes. Dathy, by these disasters, which were the result of the ex- 
cesses in which he had allowed his army to indulge, retreated to 
Caledonia, where he soon tilled up the chasms in his ranks by levies 
of troops made in his own kingdom, as well as among his tributaries, 
the Dal Riada. While he was thus augmenting his army, Constan- 
tine, a general of the Roman legion in Britain, was proclaimed em- 
peror by his soldiers, and, in consequence, that chieftain abandoned 
Britain, and repaired to the "Eternal city," where, soon after his 
arrival, he met his fate. 

Dathy, on hearing of the departure of the Romans, prepared for 
another incursion into Britain, the inhabitants of which, far from 
opposing his progress, tied in confusion and terror before him. 
" And now it was," says Dr. O'Halloran, "that the poor Britons ex- 
periened all the shocking cruelties of lawless victory, which Gildas and 
Bede so pathetically deplore. So great was the rapacity of the Irish 
army, and so frequent their depredations, that the country was re- 
duced to the utmost misery ; and the want of necessaries, as well as 
the apprehension of catching the epidemic disorders incident to cold 
and famine, obliged Dathy to quit the country, but with the firm 
resolution of returning to it at a more proper season." 

Britain no longer affording any fruits for conquest, Dathy pre- 
pared another expedition to Gaul, where he expected to profit largely 

* " This wall, which was orioinally built by the Emperor Adrian, A. D. 134, and 
so often thrown down by the Irish kings, Bede informs us, was sixty miles in 
length, twelve feet high, and eight in thickness. When Nial set out on his expe- 
dition to France, the Romans forced the Britons to repair the wall ; but Bede further 
asserts, in his ecclesiastical history, (page 12, chapter i. vol. i.) that the Britons, 
not having amongst them any one skilled in stone work, they had to raise up the 
fortification, in the best manner they could, with earth. But this wall, though 
strong, was not sufficient to retard the march of the young Irish king, at the head 
of a gallant army. Dathy led on the Dalgas to the assault; the opposition of the 
Romans, though brave, had to yield; the slingers, or the Cran Tubal, assisted by 
the archers, put the Romans to flight. British writers, and among them the ven- 
erable Bede, charge the Irish monarch with committing the most cruel excesses, 
on his march through Britain. The laws of nations justified Dathy, in some mea- 
sure, in this conduct ; for the Britons were beholden to him and his uncle for freeing 
them from the Roman yoke, and he knew that they were now a barbarous people, 
lost to every sense of liberty, and the avowed slaves of Rome."' — ^ Chart of Irish 
History, page 79, vol. ii. 



269 

by his victories. He therefore embarked in a Caledonian port, with 
a formidable army, for France, and after a prosperous voyage of 
three days, landed on the coast of Normandy, without opposition. 
At this period, A. D. 436, the Roman power was gradually ap- 
proaching- a declension. The Emperor Theodosius II., to make 
head against the Persians, who then invaded the Roman territory, 
was constrained to withdraw all his forces from Gaul ; so that the 
Irish monarch did not meet any resistance in his march over France. 
"In the two last reigns," writes O'Hailoran, "the Irish arms pre- 
vailed only on the maritime coasts of Gaul, in Britany and Norman- 
dy ; but in the present we see them, under a gallant king, unite with 
their allies, and carry terror and ruin to the very acclivities of the 
Alps." 

Here Dathy concentrated his army, with the view of penetrating 
into the fertile provinces of Italy, where he promised his soldiers 
that spoils and trophies should reward their valour and perseverance. 
But death prevented the prediction from being verified; for, as 
Dathy and some of his officers were amusing themselves in ascend- 
ing to an Alpine summit, the king was struck by lightning, which 
terminated his life and his glory, in the twenty-third year of a reign 
distinguished for brilliant achievements abroad, and for peace and 
prosperity at home. A. D. 427. 

When the Christians at Rome heard of the death of the Irish 
monarch, in the manner we have narrated, they declared that the 
thunderbolt was directed by the hand of Omnipotence, to annihilate 
a Pagan prince, who meditated the destruction of the Roman em- 
pire.* 

The cause of the king's death exerted a strong influence on the 
minds of the Irish army, and they, while yielding to their supersti- 
tious fears, called urgently on Prince Laoghaire, the son of Nial the 
Great, who succeeded to the chief command, to return home to Ire- 
land. This prince, aspiring to the throne of his father, complied 
with their request, and retraced his steps to the coast of France, 
bringing with him, in a superb funeral car, the embalmed body of 
his uncle. King Dathy. When the prince and his army reached the 
shores of Ireland, he was met, immediately after his landing, by the 
Druids, representatives of the people, and the provincial chiefs, to 
salute him monarch, and to join in the funeral procession of the de- 
ceased king, to '■'■ Rolig na Riogh,"" or the cemetery of kings, in the 
county of Roscommon. 

The fame of the Irish arms in Gaul extended to Rome, where it 
created alarm and admiration. Pope Celestine, wishing to rescue a 
people so valiant as the Irish had proved themselves to be, by their 

* " The alliances of the Irish and Anglo Saxons are clearly attested by Bede and 
Camden. Whitaker and Pinkerton prove sufficiently the conquest of Britain by 
the Irish and Dalriada, under Nial and Dathy. The Irish assisted the Armoricans 
to throw off" the yoke of the Romans. Zozimus, in his history of the Roman em- 
pire, strengthens the credit of the Irish historians by his statements, in part of 
which he says, " The maritime and other provinces of Gaul, intending to free them- 
selves from the Roman yoke, expelled their governors and garrisons." The time 
that the Armoricans (i. e. the people of Flanders and Normandy) united in the 
grand confederacy against Rome, must have happened in the reign of the great 
Nial of the nine hostages." — O'Flaherty. 



270 

exploits, sent Saint Palladius as a missionary to Ireland. The holy- 
man landed at Drogheda, with a few disciples, where he built two 
churches. After having finished these edifices, he proceeded to 
Slane,* a distance of six miles north of Drogheda, where he began 
to build another ; but before the structure was completed, he was 
arrested by the Pagan king of Meath, and thrown by order of the 
Druids, into a dungeon. When the saint was summoned before the 
prince and a convocation of Druids, he defended his creed and pur- 
pose with such moving eloquence, that the Queen of Meath enlisted 
her sympathies in his behalf, and persuaded the prince, her husband, 
in contravention of the decision of the Druids, to spare his life, and 
permit him to depart from the country. " There is no doubt," ob- 
serves Dr. Warner, " that several of the learned Irish had received 
the Christian faith, even before the mission of St. Palladius, as there 
were four bishops in Ireland who preached the gospel, and made 
many converts to Christ. These are canonized by their biographers 
under the names of St. Albe, Declan, Iber, and Kieran, the bishop 
of Duleek, in the county of Meath." That we had a knowledge of 
the pure and revivifying religion of Christ before the time of St. 
Palladius had been proved by Bishop Usher ; and, if his authority 
were not sufiicient, we might adduce, in corroboration, the evidence 
of Prosper, who says, " Palladius was sent to the /n's/t believing in 
Christ." 

The Scottish writers, and theirs were surely the "unkindest stab 
of all," a parricidal attack on the reputation of the venerable mother 
of Albany, have endeavored to prove, that we were as sunk in 
heathen barbarism, on the arrival of St. Patrick, as our St. Columba 
found themselves, in the sixth century, when, to use the emphatic 
language of the great " colossus of literature," they were " roving 
bands and fierce barbarians." But this assertion is no longer main- 
tained; as the Macphersonian bubble of imposition has been bursted 
by the Scottish breath of historical candour and impartiality. In 
the biography of St. Patrick, which will occupy our next chapter, 
we shall, we hope, demonstrate, that he brought us, from Rome, 
(for the Caledonians have no more claim to the honor of giving him 
birth, than they have to the arrogant assumption of Ossian being 
their countryman,) neither literature nor science. 

Dr. Warner, who was a fair and liberal historian, except where 
religious bigotry perverted his judgment, in relation to the mission 
of St. Palladiust observes, "he was the first bishop sent from Rome 

* The town of Slane, beautifully situated on the banks of the river Boyne,at the 
distance of thirty-eight English miles from Dublin, is rich in antiquities, and famed 
in Irish history. St. Patrick finished the church which Palladius had begun, 
and consecrated St. Eric, who died in 514, the first bishop of Slane. From this 
era, until 1153, there were six bishop's sees in Meath, namely, Duleek, Kells, Trim, 
Ardbrackan, Dunshaughlin, and Slane. But it is in our topography of Meath we 
shall give a succinct account of these sees. The Baron of Slane, Christopher 
Flemming, built a magnificent abbey on the site of St. Eric's Church, A. D. 1512. 
The present Marquis of Conyngham occupies a magnificent castle here, on the 
banks of the Boyne, which was visited by George IV., in 1822. 

t " After Palladius had left Ireland, he arrived among the Albanian Scots. He 
preached there with great zeal, and formed a considerable church. Palladius was 
the first bishop in that country, as the Irish royal saint Columba was the first apostle 



271 

to Ireland ; but the Irish annalists assert, that they had their own 
bishops and ministers, elected by the suffrages of the people, before 
his coming." The fact is, that the enlightened mind of king Cormac 
kindled that spark of Christianity in Ireland, which St. Patrick sub- 
sequently fanned into a meridian blaze, that dispelled the darkness 
of Druidical superstition. 

From the reign of Cormac O'Con, down to the epoch of which 
we are writing, the Druids progressively lost ground in the estimation 
of the people, who, no longer looking upon them as the delegated 
ministers of heaven, began now to free their minds from the tram- 
mels of superstition, and to regard these religious dictators with 
feelings of sovereign contempt. On the arrival of St. Patrick, the 
spell which they had so long exercised over the Irish mind was dis- 
solved, and their ascendency became so impotent, that they were 
but the mere relics of their pristine power, and at once incapable 
of inspiring fear or impressing reverence. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



Thestate of Religion, Literature, and the Artsin Ireland at the accession of Laoghaire, 
A. £). 428. — A Biographical Sketch of Saint Patrick. 

The introduction of Christianity into Ireland, and the extinction 
of the sublime, though superstitions system of the Druids, constitute 
a signal epoch in our history. This memorable reformation in the 
religion of Ireland, or rather the emission of the Irish mind from the 
darkness of error to the light of truth, gave birth lo impulsive conse- 
quences that deeply affected the morals, character, and politics of 
succeeding ages. 

"The period of Irish history," writes Moore, "on which we are 
now about to enter, and of which the mission of St. Patrick forms 
the principal feature, will be found to exhibit, perhaps, as singular 
and striking a moral spectacle as any the course of human affairs 
ever yet presented. A community of fierce and proud tribes, for 
ever warring among themselves, and wholly secluded from all the 
rest of the world, with an ancient hierarchy entrenched in its own 
venerable superstitions, and safe from the weakening infusion of the 
creeds of Greece or Rome, would seem to present as dark and in- 
tractable materials for the formation of a Christian people as any 

who converted all the Caledonians to the creed of Christ. St. Palladius died A. 
D. 463, at Foidun, a little town within fifteen miles of Aberdeen." — Molloys Irish 
Miscellanies. 

" His relics were preserved with religious respect, in the monastery of Fordun, 
as Hector Boetius and Camden testify. In the year 1409, William Scenes, Arch- 
bishop of St. Andrew's, and Primate of all Scotland, enclosed them in a new shrine, 
enriched with gold and precious stones. He was a Roman of noble birth, and a 
bosom friend of Pope Celestine, who sent him to Ireland. His festival is marked 
on the sixth of July, in the breviary of Aberdeen." — Butler's Saints. 



272 

that could be conceived. The result proves, however, the uncer- 
tainty of such calculations upon national character, while it affords 
an example of that ready pliancy, that facility in yielding to new 
impulses and influences, which, in the Irish character, is found so 
remarkably combined with a fond adherance to old usages and cus- 
toms, and with that sort of retrospective imagination which for ever 
yearns after the past. 

" Wliile, in all other countries, the introduction of Christianity has 
been the slow work of time, has been resisted by either government 
or people, and seldom affected without a lavish effusion of blood, in 
Ireland, on the contrary, by the influence of one humble but zealous 
missionary, and with but little previous preparation of the soil by 
other bands, Christianity burst forth, at the first ray of apostolic 
light, and, with the sudden ripeness of a northern summer, at once 
covered the whole land. Kings and princes, when not themselves 
among the ranks of the converted, saw their sons and daughters 
joining in the train withont a murmur. Chiefs, at variance in all 
else, agreed in meeting beneath the Christian banner ; and the proud 
Druid and Bard laid their superstitions meekly at the foot of the 
cross; nor, by a singular blessing of Providence — unexampled, in- 
deed, in the whole history of the church — was there a single drop of 
blood shed, on account of religion, through the entire course of this 
mild Christian revolution, by which, in the space of a few years, all 
Ireland was brought tranquilly under the dominion of the Gospel.* 

" By no methods less gentle and skilful than those which her great 
Apostle employed, could a triumph so honorable, as well to himself 
as to his nation of willing converts, have been accomplished. Land- 
ing alone, or with but a few humble followers, on their shores, the 
circumstances attending his first appearance (of which a detailed 
account shall presently be given) were of a nature strongly to affect 
the minds of a people of lively and religious imaginations ; and the 
flame, once caught, found fuel in the very superstitions and abuses 
which it came to consume. Had any attempt been made to assail, 
or rudely alter, the ancient ceremonies and symbols of their faith, 
all that prejudice in favour of old institutions, which is so inherent 
in the nation, would at once have rallied around their primitive 
creed; and the result would, of course, have been wholly different. 
But the same policy by which Christianity did not disdain to win 
her way in more polished countries, was adopted by the first mis- 
sionaries in Ireland; and the outward forms of past error became 
the vehicle through which new and vital truths were conveyed.! 



* Giraldus Cambrensis has been guilty of either the bigotry or the stupidity of 
adducing this bloodless triumph of Christianity among the Irish, as a charge against 
that people ; — " Pro Christi ecclesia corona martyri nulla. Non igitur inventus 
est in partibus istis, qui ecclesiae surgentis fundamenta sanguinis efFusLone cemen- 
taret: non fuit qui facerit hoc bonum ; non fuit useque ad unum." — Topog. Hib. 
dist. iii. cap. 29. 

t The very same policy was recommended by Pope Gregory to Augustine and 
his fellow-labourers in England. See his letter to the Abbot Mellitus, in Bede, 
(lib. i. c. 30.) where he suggests that the temples of the idols in that nation ought 
not to be destroyed. " Lei the idols that are in them," he says, " be destroyed; 
let holy water be made, and sprinkled in the said temples ; let altars be erected, 
and relics placed. For if those temples are well built, it is requisite that they be 



273 

The days devoted, from old times, to Pagan festivals, were now 
transferred to the service of the Christian cause. The feast of Sani- 
hin, which had been held annually at the time of the vernal equinox, 
was found opportunely to coincide with the celebration of Easter; 
and the fires lighted up by the Pagan Irish, to welcome the summer 
solstice, were continued afterwards, and even down to the present 
day, in honour of the eve of St. John. 

" At every step, indeed, the transition to a new faith was smoothed 
by such coincidences or adoptions. The convert saw in the baptis- 
mal font, where he was immersed, the sacred well t^t which his 
fathers had worshipped. The Druidical stone on the " high places" 
bore, rudely graved upon it, the name of the Redeemer; and it was 
in general by the side of those ancient pillar towers — whose origin 
was even then, perhaps, a mystery — that, in order to share in the 
solemn feelings which tliey inspired, the Christian temples arose. 
With the same view, the Sacred Grove was anew consecrated to 
religion, and the word Dair, or oak, so often combined with the 
names of churches in Ireland, sufficiently marks the favourite haunts 
of the idolatry which they superseded.* In some instances, the ac- 
customed objects of former worship were associated, even more in- 
timately, with the new faith ; and the order of Druidesses, as well 
as the idolatry which they practised, seemed to be revived, or rather 
continued, by the Nuns of St. Bridget, in their inextinguishable fire 
and miraculous oak at Kildare.t 

"To what extent Christianity had spread, in Ireland, before the 

converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God ; thnt the na- 
tion, not seeing those temples destroyed, may removei error from their hearts, and 
knowing and adoring the true God, may more willingly resort to the same places 
they were wont .... For there is no doubt but that it is impossible to retrench all 
at once from obdurate minds, because he who endeavours to ascend the highest 
place, rises by degrees or steps, and not by leaps." See Hume's remarks on this 
policy of the first missionaries, vol. i. chap. 1. 

With similar views, the early Christians selected, in general, for the festivals 
of their church, such days as had become hallowed to the Pagans by the celebra- 
tion of some of their religious solemnities. 

* Thus Dairmagh, now called Durrogh, in the King's county, once the site of a 
celebrated monastery, signifies the Oak Grove of the Plain, or the Plain of the 
Oaks. The name of the ancient monastery, Doire-Calgaich, from whence the 
city of Derry v/as designated, recalls the memory of the Hill of Oaks, on which it 
was originally erected ; and tlie chosen seat of St. Bridget, Kildare, was but the 
Druid's Cell of Oaks converted into a Christian temple. 

t See Giraldus, Topog. Hibern. dist. ii. cap. 34, 35, 36. 48. The Tales of Giral- 
dus, on this subject, are thus rendered by a learned but fanciful^writer, the author 
of Nimrod : — " St. Bridget is certainly no other than Vesta, or the deity of the fire- 
worshippers in a female form. The fire of St. Bridget was originally in the keep- 
ing of nine virgins ; but in the time of Giraldus Cambrensis there were twenty, who 
used to watch alternate nights ; but on the twentieth night, the man whose turn it 
was merely to throw on the wood, crying, " Bridget, watch thine own fire!" — in 
the morning the wood was found consumed, but the fire unextinguished. Nor, 
indeed, (saith Giraldus) hath it ever been extinguished during so many ages since 
that virgin's time ; nor, with such piles of fuel as have been there consumed, did 
it ever leave ashes. The fire was surrounded by a fence, of form circular, like 
Vesta's temple — ' Virgeo orbiculari sepe,' — which no male creature could enter, 
and escape divine vengeance. An archer of the household of Count Richard 
jumped over St. Bridget's fence, and went mad; and he would blow in the face of 
whoever he met, saying, ' Thus did I blow St. Bridget's fire!' Another man put 
his leg through a gap in the fence, and was withered up." — Vol. ii. 

35 



274 

mission of St. Patrick, there are no very accurate means of judging. 
The boast of Tertullian. that, in his time, a knowledge of the Chris- 
tian faith had reached those parts of the British isles yet unap- 
proached by the Romans, is supposed to imply as well Ireland as 
the northern regions of Britain;* nor are there wanting writers, 
who, placing reliance on the assertion of Eusebius, that some of the 
apostles preached the Gospel in the British isles, suppose St. James 
the elder to have been the promulgator of the faith among the Irish, t 
— -just as St. Paul, on the same hypothesis, is said to have communi- 
cated it to the Britons. 

" But though unfurnished with any direct evidence as to the reli- 
gious state of the Irish in their own country, we have a proof how 
early they began to distinguish themselves, on the continent, as 
Christian scholars and writers, in the persons of Pelagius, the emi- 
nent heresiarch, and his able disciple Celestius. That the latter 
was a Scot, or native of Ireland, is almost universally admitted ; but 
of Pelagius it is, in general, asserted that he was a Briton, and a 
monk of Bangor in Wales. There appears little doubt, however, 
that this statement is erroneous, and that the monastery to which he 
belonged was that of Bangor, or rather Banchor, near Carrickfergus. 
Two of the most learned, indeed, of all the writers respecting the 
heresy which bears his name, admit Pelagius, no less than his dis- 
ciple, to have been a native of Ireland. | 

" By few of the early Christian heresiarchs was so deep an impres- 
sion made on their own times, or such abundant fuel for controversy 
bequeathed to the future, as by this remarkable man, Pelagius, whose 
opinions had armed against him all the most powerful theologians 
of his day, and who yet extorted, even from his adversaries, the 
praise of integrity and talent. The very bitterness with which St. 
Jerome attacks him, but shows how deeply he felt his power ;§ while 
the eulogies so honourably bestowed upon him by his great oppo- 
nent, St. Augustine, will always be referred to by the lovers of tole- 
rance, as a rare instance of that spirit of fairness and liberality by 
which the warfare of religious controversy may be softened. || 

* Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo vero subdita. — Lib. adv. Judaos, 
cap. 7. 

t See the authorities collected on this point by Usher, Eccles. Primord. chap. i. 
xvi. Vincent de Beauvais thus asserts it: — " Nutu Dei Jacobus Hibernise oris 
appulsus verbum Dei prsedicavit intrepidus, ubi septem discipulos eligisse fertur." 
— Speculum Historialc, lib. viii. c. 7. It lias been well conjectured by Usher that 
this story has arisen from a confusion of Hibernia with Hiberia ; the latter being 
one of the names of Spain, which country St. James is said to have visited. 

X Gamier, in his Dissert, upon Pelagianism, and Vossius, in liis Histor. Pelag. 
The latter says : — " Pelagius professione monachus, natione non Gallus Brito, ut 
Danaeus putavit ; nee Anglo-Britannus, ut scripsit Balseus, sed Scotus." — Lib. i. 
cap. 3. 

§ Among other reflections on the country of Pelagius, St. Jerome throws in his 
teeth the Irish flummery : — " Nee recordatur stolidissirnus et Scotorum pultibus 
prffigravatus." — In Hierem. Pr of at. Vih. i. Upon this, Vossius remarks : — "Nam 
per Scotorum pultibus pragravatum,, non alium intelligit quam Pelagium natione 
Scotum." — Lib. i. cap. 3. 

II The following are a few of the passages, in which this praise, so creditable to 
both parties, is conveyed : — " Pelagii, viri, ut audio, sanctit et non parvo profectu 
Christiani." — De Peccat.vicritis ac remiss, lib. iii. cap. 1. — " Eum qui noverunt 



275 

"The rank of Celestius, in public repute, though subordinate, of 
course, to that of his master, was not, in its way, less distinguished. 
So high was the popular estimate of his talents, that most of the 
writings circulated under the name of Pelagius, were supposed to 
have been in reality the production of his disciple's pen. We are 
told by St. Augustine, indeed, that many of the followers of the 
heresy chose to style themselves, of the latter, Celestians ; and St. 
Jerome, in one of his paroxysms of vituperation, goes so far as to 
call him "the leader of the whole Pelagian army."* 

" While yet a youth, and before he had adopted the Pelagian doc- 
trines, Celestius had passed some time in a monastery on the conti- 
nent, supposed to have been that of St. Martin of Tours, and from 
thence (A. D. 369) addressed to his parents, in Ireland, three letters, 
" in the form," as we are told, " of little books," and full of such 
piety, "as to make them necessary to all who love God." Among 
his extant works there is mentioned an epistle " On the Knowledge 
of Divine Law;" which, by some, is conjectured to have been one 
of those letters addressed by him to his parents.f But Vossius has 
shown, from internal evidence, that this could not have been the 
case ; the epistle in question being, as he says, manifestly tinged 
with Pelagianism, and therefore to be referred to a later date. The 
fact of Celestius thus sending letters to Ireland, with an implied 
persuasion, of course, that they would be read, affords one of those 
incidental proofs of the art of writing being then known to the Irish, 
which, combining with other evidence more direct, can leave but 
little doubt upon the subject. A country that could produce, indeed, 
before the middle of the fourth century, two such able and distin- 
guished men as Pelagius and Celestius, could hardly have been a 
novice, at that time, in civilization, however secluded from the rest 
of Europe she had hitherto remained. 

"From some phrases of St. Jerome, in one of his abusive attacks 
on Pelagius, importing that the heresy professed by the latter was 
common to others of his countrymen, it has been fairly concluded 
that the opinions in question were nor. confined to these two Irish- 
men ; but, on the contrary, had even spread to some extent among 
that people. It is, indeed, probable, that whatever Christians Ireland 
could boast at this period, were mostly followers of the peculiar 
tenets of their two celebrated countrymen ; and the fact that Pela- 
gianism had, at some early period, found its way into this country, is 
proved by a letter from the Roman clergy to those of Ireland, in the 

loquuntur bonum ac prsBdicandum virum." — lb. cap. 3. And again, " Virille tarn 
egregie Chrislianus." 

* " Pelagii licet discipulum tamen magistrum et ductorem exercitus." — Epist. 
ad Ctesiphont. 

i " Cselestius antequam dogma Pelagianum incurreiet, imo adhuc adolescens 
scripsit ad parentes suos de monasterio epistolas in modum libellorum fres, omni 
Deum desideranti necessarias." — Gennadius, Catal. Must. Vir. By Dr. O'Connor, 
this passage of Gennadius has been rather unaccountably brought forward, in proof 
of the early introduction of monastic institutions into Ireland. " Monachorum 
instituta toto fere sseculo ante S. Patricii adventum, invecta fuisse in Hiberniam 
patet ex supra allatis de Cselestio, qui ab ipsa adolescentia monasterio se dicavit, 
ut scribit Genadius." But the mere fact of the Irishman Celestius having been in 
a monastery on the continent, is assuredly no proof of the introduction of monastic 
establishments into Ireland." — See Prol. i. Ixxviii. 



276 

year 640, wherein, adverting to some indications of a growth of 
heresy, at that time, they pronounce it to be a revival of the old 
Pelagian virus."* 

With the progressive estabhshment of the religion of peace, we 
behold a nation of warriors who considered heroism the most enno- 
bhng virtue, the distinguishing attribute of high Milesian birth, illu- 
minated by the light of divine revelation, and softened and refined 
by the spirit of Christian mildness and forbearance, become a nation 
of sanctity, their country the asylum of saintly sages and hermits. 
In future we shall behold the proud and chivalrous knights of the 
red-branch throwing aside their coats of mail, and assuming the 
more inpenetrable armour of Christian fortitude. The forthcoming 
chapters of this history, if God shall spare us life to write them, will 
present the tumultuous spirit of military ardour, chastened by the 
pure flame of religion, subside into the meek effusions of universal 
charity and affable amenit3^ The religion of our Pagnn ancestors 
seemed to be formed to raise the mind to the loftiest pinnacle of 
warlike enthusiasm ; and, therefore, to be more hostile to that spirit 
of humility so strongly inculcated by the benign precepts of the gos- 
pel. Such of our readers as have attentively read the preceding 
chapters of this history, must have observed, that pride of ancestry 
was the ruling and predominating passion of the Milesian race. 
This pride, which gave a tone to their feelings and a bias to their 
prejudices, may be justly considered the political hinge on which 
their entire system of civil polity turned : it influenced the general 
councils of the state, it roused to arms the slumbering martial chiefs, 
and their devoted vassals, and insidiously whispered to each, that 
the monarchy of Ireland was to crown the success of his military 
achievements ; nor could it be wrested from them by the iron grasp 
of foreign dominion, nor by the withering influence of political sla- 
very. It attended them through every period of their history ; it 
clings still tenaciously to their feelings, and it glows in the bosom 
of the poorest peasant in our country at the present day, with as 
much warmth, and with as ardent an enthusiasm as it did before the 
English treacherously trammelled us in the harness of despotism, 
and broke the sceptre of our ancient kings. The Irish have ever 
proved themselves the champions of liberty, and in every foreign 
battle-field where democratic freedom was the prize of victory, their 
valour lias shone in the full refulgence of heroism ; but that tiiey 
could submit to a republican form of government, in their own coun- 
try, beside the tombs of their ancestors and the ruined palaces of 
their princes, even if Daniel O'Connell were its head, is a chimer- 
ical supposition that no one acquainted with their history, habits, 
and notions, can for a moment entertain. There is no people in 
Europe so proud of exalted ancestry and the chivalrous exploits of 
their Milesian forefathers as the Irish. 

All our historians assert, that at the period of Laoghaire's succes- 
sion to the throne of Ireland, literature and the arts were carried to 
the acme of cultivation. The Irish Druids were such proficients in 

* Et hoc quoque cognovimus, quod virus Pelagianse hsereseos apud vos denuo 
reviviscit. 



277 

poetry, philosophy, and theology, that the Britons and Albanians, as 
Tolaiid, Whitakcr, and Llhuyd assert, became their pupils.* We 
had glimmerings of religion too before the mission of St. Patrick; 
for St. Dima founded a Christian church at Adair, in the county of 
Limerick, A. D. 423, and about the same era his contemporaries. 
Saints Rieran, Declan, Keenan, and Albe, erected churches at 
Emely, Duleek, and Begeri.t "Prior," says Colgan, "to the death 
of Dathy, in Italy, the learned Ibarus founded an academy at Wex- 
ford, where he instructed great numbers of the natives, as well as 
foreigners, in sacred and polite letters." 

We can, moreover, adduce many respectable authorities to sup- 
port us in the opinion, that the gospel of Christ was preached at a 
very early period in our country. Bishop Usher and the learned 
Brudirms inform us, that Man Suetus, the first bishop and patron of 
Toul, who was canonized by Leo IX. was an Irishman. In the 
reign of Con, in the second century, St. Cathaldas, an Irishman, 
preached the faith in Italy, and was bishop and patron of Tarentum, 
and we have already related, that in the succeeding age, the renown- 
ed King Corniac O'Con became a convert to the Christian dispen- 
sation. O'Fiaherty states, that the poet laureate of Nial the great, 
Torna Eigis, who is so celebrated in our annals for poetic powers 
and knowledge of languages, became a devoted proselyte to the 
creed of Christ, in consequence of his having read the Greek homilies 
of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. 

But whatever progress Christianity had made, previous to the 
landing of our great apostle, the conversion of the entire kingdom 
was the glorious labour that must ever immortalize his name in the 
reverence of Irishmen. 

It might be said of him, that, like Homer, seven cities contended 
for the honour of having given him birth, and only two of his nume- 
rous biographers (Colgan and the late erudite Dr. Lanagan, the 
profound author of the Ecclesiastical History of Ireland) have 
agreed in deciding on the place of his nativity. Some of these wri- 
ters maintain that he was a native of Ireland, others argue, very 
learnedly, that it was in Scotland, that saint and poet-claiming na- 
tion, the apostle of Ireland first respired the mountain air, while 
more antiquarians, amonii: whom were Jocelyn, Bishop Usher, Bede, 
and St. Gildas, have endeavored "to give a local habitation and a 
name" to the place of his birth, by fixing on St. David's, in Wales. 

*At this era the Irish were the most enlightened cultivators of letters in Europe, 
and so great was the respect in which their learning was held by the Saxons and 
north Britons, that the Druids of these countries, for ages, were initiated by the 
Irish Druids. "Vide Toland's Hist, of the British Druids. " St. Patrick found the 
Irish Druids who contended with him at Tara eminently versed in Grecian litera- 
ture and astronomy." — Camden. " In the reign of the celebrated monarch Nial, 
the arch-Druid of Ireland was acknowledged the sovereign pontiff of the order, 
by the Druids of Gaul, Britain, and Scotland." — Whitaker. " Saint Patrick cer- 
tainly brought no accession of literature to the Irish, as their Druids were then the 
most learned body of men in Europe, and stood unrivalled in the cultivation of 
letters." — Bishop Stileingfleet. 

t Begeri is a pretty little island, situated near the coast of Wexford, where St. 
Ibarus, in A. D. 42, founded a monastery and school. The Saint died on the 23d 
April, in the year 500. 



278 

But we think that Dr. Lanagan Ims settled the question, and proved 
to a conviction, which has staggered incredulity, that our apostle 
was horn in the city of Tours, in France, whence he and his sisters 
were carried captives to ^Ireland, as we have ah'eady narrated, by 
king Nial, of the nine hostages. His father's name was Calphurn, 
and his mother, who was the sister of St. Martin, bishop of Turin, 
and a woman of singular beauty, was called Conchessa. 

" The famous antiquarian O'Sullivan, in his biography of St. Pat- 
rick," observes the acute and classical Lanagan, quotes a line from 
the elegy written by St. Fiech, the bishop of Sletty, on his patron 
St. Patrick, which declares that the Irish missionary ^^was a native 
of holy Tours.'''' The year in which he was born is as much dispu- 
ted as the place of his birth. William of Malmesbury, Stanihurst, 
and Cambrensis place it in 367 of the Christian era. "But Colgan 
and O'Sullivan brought strong chronological evidence and cogent 
arguments to prove that St. Patrick, whose baptismal name was 
Succath, was born in the year of 372." 

We have before, when narrating the events of Nial's glorious 
reign, stated that St. Patrick and his two sisters were among the 
captives which that monarch carried off from France. It is sup- 
posed that his father and his mother, who were warm adherents of 
the Roman party in Tours, perished under the swords of Nial's sol- 
diers. The officer, to whose share of captives St. Patrick, on his 
arrival in Ireland, fell, sold him to Milclio Iluanan, the chieftain of 
the northern part of the Dal Riada, the present county of Antrim, 
who employed him in tending his swine, and in other menial offices, 
for seven years, at the end of which period, anxious to return to 
Tours, to his relations, he demanded his liberty, according to the 
custom of the country; but his master, not v^'ishing to dispense with 
his services, refused to conform to the law of the land, and thus 
spurned his request. 

With a sad and sorrowful heart, he had to resume the servile oc- 
cupation of herding hogs, on Slieve-miss, in the county of Antrim. 
As he was one day, says Colgan, " bewailing his irksome condition, 
and shedding an abundance of tears, he fell into a gentle slumber, 
when the angel Victor appeared to him, and bid him raise his spirits, 
for that God intended him for great purposes, and then requested of 
him to return to his native country with speed, where he should 
again manifest himself, in another vision, and announce to him the 
services which the Most High should require him to perform. As 
soon as the saint awoke he observed one of the^Ihogs rooting[up a 
massy bar of gold, which he seized on with joy, as sufficient means 
to pay his hard-hearted master the amount of his ransom. This 
treasure satisfied his task-master, who permitted him to depart from 
his territory. He hastened with all possible expedition to the sea- 
coast, where he found a ship about to sail for France, in which, after 
some difficulty, he was so fortunate as to procure a passage to his 
native land. The voyage is represented as very long and danger- 
ous; but, at length, after being tempest-tossed for seventy-three 
days, the ship gained a French port. His uncles and aunts, accord- 
ing to the Abbe M'Geoghegan, were overjoyed at his return from 



279 

exile and slavery. Several writers of his life attribute many mira- 
cles to him in his yoiitli ; but, as St. Fiech, his contemporary, who 
had better opportunities of knowinjr every thin^r of importance con- 
nected with his life, is entirely silent respecting them, and as one of 
the ablest divines of the Roman Catholic Church, the late Dr. Mil- 
NER, in his refutation of Ledvvich's Hypothesis regarding St. Patrick, 
disclaims the puerile stories of Jocelyn, the alleged miracles were, 
we opine, but the creation of pious fiction. " Let it be remembered," 
writes Dr. Lanagan, " that the saint himself, in his confession, attri- 
butes his captivity to his ignorance of the true God, and his disobe- 
dience to his laws." 

We are not, it is true, very learned in theology ; but we found our 
opinion on the judgment of Dr. Milner and the dictates of reason, 
and declare that it would appear agreeable to the strictest principles 
of Christian philosophy to suppose, that conferring the power of 
performing miracles on a child is not consistent with the equal and 
impartial distribution of God's favours ; if, as it is generally conclu- 
ded, a miracle be a gift bestowed only on extraordinary sanctity. 
For we believe it will be conceded, that there can be no sanctity 
without judgment, because no act can be good but so far as we know 
it to be so. But if sanctity or merit be founded on knowledge and 
intention, how can we suppose a child possessed of either? To sup- 
pose him endowed with those powers of moral perception, is to sup- 
pose him an intellectual phenomenon, a being deriving its intelligence 
from a source inaccessible to the rest of men. A child, it will be 
admitted, never appears more engaging than while he appears robed 
in the white garb of baptismal innocence, for what is he without that 
simplicity which is the most amiable concomitant of infancy, but 
a gaudy flower without fragrance. 

Every offensive deed in a state of invincible ignorance is an inno- 
cent crime. This position may appear to many as a paradox, yet it 
is certain that it is only when we are made acquainted with the na- 
ture of a good act that we are capable of committing an evil one ; 
for had our first parents never tasted of the forbidden fruit of the 
tree of knowledge, they would otherwise have been always innocent. 
But let us resume the narrative of our immediate subject. 

During St. Patrick's residence amongst his friends, at Tours, he 
prepared himself for the church, with an assiduity of application 
worthy of the great task which he was destined to accomplish. 

Having now finished his studies, and reached the twenty-third 
year of his age, he received from the hands of his venerable uncle, 
St. Martin, the clerical tonsure and the monastic habit. Shortly 
after being priested, we are informed, he saw in a vision a venerable 
looking man approaching him, holding in his hand, for presentation 
to the saint a letter, on which was emblazoned in letters of light, 
the words " Vox Hihernigensimn" ov the voice of the Hibernians; 
and he thought, that while he was opening it, he heard the natives 
of Ireland invoking his mission to their country, in the most suppli- 
cating language. Should this story excite the cold smile of incredu- 
lity in the countenance of the religious sceptic, who shrewdly rejects 
all supernatural agency, we shall, for his satisfaction, endeavour to 



280 

show its natural probability without imputing it to the intervention 
of a miracle. 

There is a certain power in the human mind by which it suffers 
itself to be irresistibly drawn to the exclusive contemplation of some 
interesting, or some endearing object, not only in the visive hour of 
night, but even when the sun dispenses his meridian beams; for the 
thoughts, influenced by feeling, flow directly into the engrossing 
sensation, carrying with them all the affections which that sensation 
is calculated to excite. In such an hour of mental abstraction, rea- 
son pays homage to the eagerness of desire, and the imagination 
strongly paints the object of its endearment, and calls into existence 
new images, whicli render it more vivid and impressive. Can we, 
theii, be surprised if St. Patrick, who seems to have indulged an 
ardent desire for the conversion of the Irish nation, should be so 
strongly aftected by the impulse of religious feelings as to fancy, in 
his dreams, the inhabitants of Ireland calling upon him to irradiate 
their minds with tfie luminous rays of truth] From the moment of 
his vision the Irish apostle felt impelled by a zealous wish of labour- 
ing for the Irish nation. He therefore resolved, contrary to the 
wishes of his relatives, to travel through foreign countries in order 
to enrich and enlarge his mind, so as to qualify it to accomplish his 
great ultimate design — the propagation of the gospel in Ireland. 
He entered the monastery of Marmouiiers, near Tours, where he 
devoted three years to prayer and penance. On the death of his 
uncle, St. Martin, an event which took place in that monastery, A. 
D. 402, he set out for Rome, where he joined the canons regular of 
St. John of Lateran. In the house of these ecclesiastics he practiced 
the most austere religious duties, and also sedulously applied himself 
to an extensive course of studies, in Greek and Roman literature, 
as well as in the dogmas of theologj'. 

From Rome, he made a tour through the Mediterranean isles, in 
several of the abbeys of which he sojourned, where his preaching 
and piety acquired great fame. In 418, St. Germain, a friend and 
fellow-student of our apostle, being presented by the Pope with the 
Bishopric of Auxerre, he invited St. Patrick to assist him in the sa- 
cred duties of his see. With this prelate, he remained several years, 
endowing his mind with all the virtues of an apostle, preparatory to 
the jjreat ministry to which he so devoutly aspired. When the news 
of the death of St. Palladius reached the good bishop of Auxerre, 
he despatched St. Patrick to Rome, with recommendatory letters, so- 
liciting Pope Celestine to appoint Patrick the successor of that pious 
missionary. The sovereign pontiff, in consequence, received our 
apostle with testimonies of the warmest esteem, and, having invested 
him with apostolic authority, sent him forth to preach the gospel to 
that nation, whose conversion had been for many years the only 
subject of all his anxieties and pastoral solicitude. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland. — His disputation with the Druids. — The success 
of his mission. — He converts the Queen of Ireland, and builds several churches. — 
Singular occurrence at the baptism of the king" of Munster. 

The saint having received plenary authority from the sovereign 
Pontiff" of the Christian church, embarked for Ireland. He was ac- 
companied by twenty monks, — "divines," says Bishop Usher, "dis- 
tinguished for their learning and piety." By stress of weather, the 
ship in which the missionary and his disciples sailed, was driven into 
a port in Cornwall, where she had to remain for some weeks to be 
refitted. During the time occupied in repairing the vessel, we are 
told by Probus, that our saint made a journey into Wales, where 
by his eloquent preaching, he succeeded in converting many of the 
natives to the religion of Christ. As soon as the ship was ready for 
sea, he and his attendants again embarked and set sail for Ireland. 
After a prosperous voyage, the saint and his disciples landed at 
Wicklow ; but no sooner did the Druids of that place learn the ob- 
ject of St. Patrick, than they persuaded the natives to drive back 
the pious adventurers to their ship. To avoid the danger that men- 
aced them, they again went on board, and sailed along the eastern 
coast of Ireland, until they arrived opposite Skerries, a fishing port^ 
twenty miles north of Dublin. 

Here, on a rocky promontory, called still, in commemoration of 
the event, " Holm Patrick,'''' or the haven of Patrick, our missiona- 
ries were suffered to land without opposition, A. D. 433. They had 
not been long, however, in Skerries, before they were apprehended 
by the orders oi Diclm, the chieftain of Fingal, and borne in chains 
to his palace. 

When our apostle was brought before this chief, and the Druids 
of the district, he defended the principles of his creed, and the integ- 
rity of his motive in visiting Ireland, in a Grecian oration,* with 
such commanding eloquence as not only procured his acquittal, as 
well as that of his followers, but made converts of the chieftain, his 
lady, and several of his vassals. 

From Skerries he proceeded to Saul, in the County of Down, 
where he built a church, and a monastery. Having made converts 
of the inhabitants of the county of Down, he repaired to the county 
of Antrim, with a pious view of rescuing his old master, MilcJio, 
from the delusion of paganism. But the hoary chief, on seeing his 
former servant arrayed in episcopal robes, and bearing in his hand 
a golden crosier, indignantly exclaimed — " Why, thou hog-herd ! art 
thou so silly as to think, that with thy gaudy staff" and white book, 
thou canst estrange me from the faith of my noble fathers] Away 
vassal ! and for thy insolence, go take again my hogs in charge." 
The saint listened meekly to this ebullition of angry scorn, and then 

* " The Greek language was fluently spoken by all the Irish of rank at this era ; 
but the Latin language, being that of their enemies, the Romans, excepting the 
Druids, no person in the country spoke it." — Vallancey. 

36 



282 

began to remonstrate with Milcho, on the warmth of his language 
and the gloom of his error, which he did with a power of reasoning 
and eloquence, that won over to tiie gospel Guassat, tlie son, and 
two of the daugl)ters of the inflexihie chieftain. Their example was 
followed by the greater part of the chieftains of Antrim. It is re- 
lated by Jocelyn, that Milcho was so enraged at his son and daugh- 
ter's secession from the ancient faith of their ancestors, that he col- 
lected all his valuable effects in one of his apartments, and, after he 
had set fire to his palace, with desperate indignation, plunged him- 
self into the middle of the devouring blaze. We should, however, 
mention, that Dr. Lanagan discredits the traditionary story of this 
alleged immolation of the chief of Antrim, on such a funeral pile. 
Guassat afterwards was consecrated bishop of Trffin, that district 
of country now comprehended in the counties of Westmeath and 
Longford. His two sisters received the veil from the hands of St. 
Patrick. These ladies then repaired to Granard, the then capital 
of their brother's see, where they erected a convent, of which they 
became the abbesses. To enumerate all the churches and abbeys 
which St. Patrick erected, during three years in Leinster and 
Ulster, would require the limits of a volume. 

He proceeded from Antrim to Drogheda, where he repaired the 
churches built by Palladius, and made many converts. Leaving one 
of his disciples to attend to the faithful in Drogheda, he set out to 
pay a visit to the school of the learned Ibarus at Wexford. On his 
first introduction to that renowned philosopher, he found that fame 
had not misrepresented the depth or variety of his erudition. 
Though he was the ablest champion of Druidism, our apostle, by 
his inspired arguments, and his mild and condescending deportment, 
succeeded in winning him over as a proselyte to the religion of the 
Gospel* 

Hearing at this juncture, A. D. 435, that the national estates 
were to meet at Tara, he formed the resolution of repairing there, 
in order to gain, if possible, some converts among the Irish princes, 
well aware that the example of the great had then a strong influ- 
ence over the minds of the people. We have fully related, in the 
former chapters of this history, the religious ceremonies with which 
the festival of Bel, was celebrated, on every May day. On the eve 
of Bel, all culinary fires were religiously extinguished, in all parts 
of the kingdom, in order that the Druids might supply every hearth 
from the consecrated fire, which ever burned in the temple of 
Uisneach. To light a fire on the day dedicated to the deity of the 
Pagan Irish, was counted the most inexpiable act of impiety. Our 
saint resolved to dissolve the delusion of that superstitious observ- 
ance of the Druids. In pursuance of this daring resolution, the 
saint kindled a large fire on a hill, adjoining Tara, whose vivid glare 
soon brightened the spires of the Druidical temple. The sight of 
such a blaze of imholy fire horrified the superstitious, while it filled 

* •'' St. Patrick was amazed at the profundity of learning and the force of logic, 
which that celebrated philosopher brought to bear upon the arguments advanced 
by the holy missionary. The conversion of Ibarus paved the way for Christianity 
in Ireland." — Bishop Hutchinson's Defence of Irish History. 



283 

the Druids with alarm and consternation. The arch-Druid hastened 
to the king, and told him, that if the impious man who had the crim- 
inal boldness of lighting that fire, was not instantly put to death, he 
and his successors should rule forever in Ireland. This, indeed, 
Avas a measure on the part of the saint, that nothing less than a 
confidence in the divine assistance, which can scarcely be termed 
human, could justify; and the event proved that he was directed by 
higher counsels than those which result from human sagacity. 

At the instance of the Druids, Laoghaire, the monarch, sent a 
guard to arrest Patrick and his disciples, and to bring them in fet- 
ters before him. "When the saint was arraigned at the tribunal of 
justice for impiety, he evinced such fortitude and firmness, as im- 
pressed the whole assembly, save the envious Druids, with a high 
idea of his character. In his disputation with the Pagan Priests, 
he displayed rhetorical talents of an exalted order. Nothing could 
intimidate or confuse him, for he spoke as if inspiration prompted 
his tongue. The saint, fired with divine zeal to accomplish the will 
of his master, and to manifest his doctrine, at the peril of his life, 
openly confessed the word of life, and vehemently denounced the 
fallacy of the doctrines, by which the Druids had so long imposed 
upon mankind. 

The disputation continued in a Druidical grove, contiguous to the 
palace of Tara, for three days, engrossing the attention not only of 
the monarch and princes, but of the national representatives. The 
Druids asked the saint if he would consent to prove the divine inspi- 
ration of his "■white book" by the trial of the ordeal, to which he 
readily assented. They said that the book of their sacred mysteries, 
which was composed of tanned oak bark, and bound in a cover of 
plated gold, ornamented with precious stones, should be flung into 
a cistern of water, at the same instant that the saint should likewise 
throw in his white volume, and that whichever book floated, should 
be regarded as the book of truth. The metallic volume, of course, 
sunk, while the white book floated on the surface of the water. 

The Druids, with all their learning, not perceiving the natural 
cause of the sinking of their book, admitted that a miracle had been 
wrought in favour of the Bible of our apostle. When in the course 
of his oration, he came to speak of the holy Trinity, the Druids 
boldly asserted that nothing could be more erroneous or absurd, 
than the doctrine he broached on that subject, for it was founded in 
moral and physical impossibility, as, said they, "three could not 
exist in one." " To prove the reality and possibility of the existence 
of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," rejoined Saint Patrick, "I 
have only to pluck up this humble plant, on which we have trodden," 
(as he held up triumphantly the shamrock to their view) "and con- 
vince you that truth can be attested by the simplest symbol of illustra- 
tion." The Druids felt confounded at the facility with which he de- 
feated an objection that they had deemed impregnable and insuperable. 
This was the origin of the shamrock's becoming one of the national 
emblems of our country. As the mysteries of Druidism could neither 
be supported by reason, nor sanctioned by a divine commission, we 
may easily conclude that its priests could have little success in op- 



284 

posing a doctrine that was founded on the immutable principles of 
eternal truth. Accordingly, we find the Irish Queen becoming an 
immediate convert to the Christian creed. The conversion of the 
queen led to that of almost all the ladies of the court ; and the Druids 
themselves either became the proselytes of truth, or endeavoured to 
screen from public scrutiny a doctrine which they could not defend, 
by avoiding a conference with the apostle, who was guided by the 
beacon of heavenly inspiration. At the great annual exhibition of 
the Tailtean games,* to witness which, all the beauty, grandeur, 
and chivalry of Ireland congregated, St. Patrick made a host of 
proselytes, as the queen submitted to a public baptism before the 
assembled multitude. 

As yet our apostle confined himself to the northern parts of the 
kingdom ; but Aongus, king of Munster, hearing of his fame, and 
being himself desirous of embracing the new religion, sent two of 
his principal poets to Tara, to invite the saint to his court. He 
speedily availed himself of the invitation, and set out on his journey 
to Cashel. 

On the saint's arrival at Cashel, he was escorted to the palace by 
the king and the principal nobility of Munster, who had gone out 
into the suburbs of the city to bid him welcome. As soon as the 
first courtesies of his reception were over, the Druids challenged 
him to a disputation, in which his inspired eloquence gained for him 
another signal triumph. The king was so convinced of " the truths 
divine which came mended from his tongue," that he solemnly ab- 
jured Druidism, and in the fervour of his enthusiasm, solicited the 
saint to administer to him on the instant the sacrament of baptism. 
This ceremony was attended with an incident which has been im- 
mortalized by the graphic pencil of the Irish Apelles, James Barry. 
The saint was so overjoyed at the conversion of the king, that in 
precipitately attempting to fasten the javelin pointed end of his 
crosier in the floor, he unconsciously transfixed the regal foot. The 
prince, convinced that this Wcis part of the holy rite, bore the pain 
with heroic fortitude ; nor did St. Patrick observe his error, until the 
apartment was .deluged with blood. Barry's famous painting of this 
memorable occurrence was pronounced a master-piece by Burke. 

Though it is a matter of some doubt whether Laoghaire, the 
monarch, was converted to the religion of the Hedeemer of the 
world, we may yet conclude, that he was not hostile to the interests 
of that creed, which his wife and daughters had adopted. The 
saint had not, therefore, to contend with royal opposition ; as we 
learn from history, that he assisted with the monarch's permission, 
at a public examination of the national records. 

While the holy man remained at Cashel, he was visited by the 
saints Albe and Declan, the first of whom he consecrated Archbishop 
of Munster, and the latter Bishop of the Deasies, or Waterford. 

* The Tailtean Games, which were held at Kells, in the county of Meatli, for 
several ages, were celebrated by feats of chivalry, athletic strength, and of other 
cpntending powers. By referring to the second chapter of our history, the reader 
will find the origin of these Olympic games in Ireland. They were held every 
year, for fifteen days before, and fifteen days after, the first of August. 



285 

"After this," says Hanmer's Chronicle, " they blessed the king, and 
giving the kiss of peace, each saint returned to his particular charge." 
St. Patrick having now firmly established his authority over the Irish 
ecclesiastics, and succeeded in converting the greater part of the 
nation from the darkness of Paganism to the divine light of revela- 
tion, was generally consulted on every matter of moment, by the 
princes of Ireland. 

Prior to his leaving Cashel, he superintended the building of the 
Cathedral of that city. On his return to Tara, he visited the city 
of Dublin, but the inhabitants, so far from hearkening to his» preach- 
ing, assailed him with contumely, and compelled him to abandon 
the capital precipitately. As he journeyed to Tara, he met two of 
the Irish monarch's brothers, Connell and Carbre, to whom he 
preached the gospel of peace ; the former believed and was baptized, 
but the latter insolently refused to listen to the expostulation of our 
apostle. During the years 434 and 436, the pious missionary em- 
ployed himself in building churches and abbeys in Meath and Louth. 
On his second visit to Tara, the two princesses royal, Ethe and 
Fedeline, followed the example of the Queen, their mother, by con- 
forming to the injunctions of Christianity. These princesses after- 
wards took the veil, and one became an abbess in the monastery of 
Trim, and the other in the nunnery of Drogheda. Colgan has 
written their lives. 



CHAPTER XL. 

Tlie Biography of St. Patrick, continued. 

It will be recollected by the readers of this history, that from the 
days of the monarch Ollamh Fodhla, it was customary, during the 
session of the national estates, for three Druids, assisted by the most 
eminent class of the Irish literati, to inspect and revise the national 
records. On the present occasion, the literary committee consisted 
of Dubktagh, the royal laureate, Feargus, the antiquary, Roso, the 
genealogist, and St. Patrick. The monarch and the king of Ulster 
were present at the sittings of the committee. The apostle posses- 
sing great influence over the mind of the laureate, whom he had con- 
verted, prevailed upon him to concur in any resolution he might 
propose, to dispel the mists of druidical superstition from the under- 
standing of our progenitors. He, therefore, to give a salutary effect 
and dissemination to the precepts of the gospel, and to impress the 
Irish people with a reverence for, and a conviction of, the truth of 
the divine counsels of heaven, in the warmth of his zeal, persuaded 
the committee to commit near four hundred volumes of poetry, his- 
tory, and antiquity to the flames. Among the books thus destroyed 
were the autographs of Ossian. By this sacrifice, which was judged 
by the apostle necessary for the firm and permanent establishment 



286 

of the Christian dispensation, our ancient literature, rich, varied, 
and peculiar, was almost annihilated. The saint was no doubt led 
to this determination of burninir the books by the apprehension, that 
if he sutFered any trace or relic of the heathen superstition to re- 
main, the people mi^ht relapse into their former errors. " Indeed," 
says the learned O'FIanngan, "if the fact of St. Patrick having de- 
stroyed all the books in the archives of Tara, that regarded heathen 
worship, were not, as it is, supported by the concurrrent testimony 
of all our historical vv'riters, I should reject it altogether. But our 
apostle deemed the expedient, which the lovers of Irish literature 
must ever deplore, as absolutely necessary, to make way for the sa- 
cred truths of revelation." 

It is also on record that St. Patrick, having observed our history 
deduced only from Phoenius, and wishing to associate it with that of 
the Jews, made, by the consent of the national council, Phcenius the 
son of Baath, the son of Magog, the son of Japeth. We must, in- 
deed, concede that it is true, that this might have been the means of 
reconciling the old Irish to a religion virtually the same with that 
practised by their primogenial ancestors in Egypt; but whether our 
apostle would have recourse to any artifice, such as might even be 
denominated a pious fraud, in order to establish the doctrine of his 
divine master, is a circumstance much, in our opinion, to be doubted. 
It is to be hoped that he had too great a respect for the purity and 
character of his religion — a religion whose essence is truth and jus- 
tice, and too reverential and strong a confidence in the divine as- 
sistance, to have thus resorted to deception. But this is a question 
for the inquiry of theological casuists. The apostle having so far 
succeeded at Tara, made preparations for a journey into Connaught. 
"In the course of this journey," says Moore, "he turned aside a 
little from the direct road, to visit that frightful haunt of cruelty and 
superstition, the Plain of Slaughter, in the county of Leitrim, where, 
from time immemorial, had stood the Druidical idol Crom-Cruach, 
called sometimes also Cean Groith, or Head of the Sun. This 
image, to which, as to Moloch of old, young children were offered 
up in sacrifice, had been an object of worship, we are told, with 
every successive colony by which the island had been conquered. 
For St. Patrick, however, was reserved the glory of destroying both 
idol and worship ; and a large church was now erected by him in 
the place where these monstrous rites had been so long solemnized."* 
He travelled through the counties of Roscommon, Galway, and 
Mayo, and in the course of this peregrination, built many churches, 
and made numerous converts. At this period, elated with the suc- 
cess of his ^mission, and inspired with gratitude to God for the mi- 
raculous powers delegated to him, he retired, during the season of 
Lent, to a lofty mountain, in the county of Mayo, called Crnhan- 
Achuil, or the Eagle mountain, for the purpose of employing so holy a 

* " When we hear of Churches erected by St. Patrick, very many of which were 
certainly of much later foundation, we are not to understand such edifices as are 
so called in our days, but humble buildings made of hurdles or wattles, clay and 
thateh, according to the ancient fashion of Ireland, and which could be put together 
in a very short time." — Lanagan, chap. v. note 74. 



287 

period in prayer and penance. According to the traditionary story, 
related by Jocelyn, it was from this mountain St. Patrick di'ove all 
the venomous creatures into the sea. But Colgan gives up this pop- 
ular legend, for it is well known, that there were no poisonous rep- 
tiles in Ireland since the arrival of the Milesians.* "While thus 
occupied," says Moore, "the various seafowl and birds of prey that 
would naturally be attracted to the spot, by the sight of a living 
creature in so solitary a place, t were transformed, by the fancy of 
the superstitious, into flocks of demons which came to tempt and 
disturb the holy man from his devotions. After this interval of se- 
clusion, he proceeded northwards to the country then called Tira- 
malgaidh, the modern barony of Tyrawley. 

He was now in the neighbourhood of the wood of Foclut, near the 
Ocean, from whence the voices of the Irish had called to him in his 
dream ; and, whether good fortune alone was concerned in effecting 
the accomplishment of the omen, or, as is most likely, the thought 
that he was specially appointed to this place gave fresh impulse to 
his zeal, the signal success which actually attended his mission in 
this district sufficiently justified any reliance he might have placed 
upon the dream. Arriving soon after the death of the king of that 
territory, and at the moment when his seven sons, having just termi- 
nated a dispute concerning the succession, were, together with a 
great multitude of people, collected on the occasion, St. Patrick re- 

* " Solinus, who wrote some liundred years before the coming of St. Patrick to 
Ireland, lauds the country for being free from pestiferous reptiles. The fact is, 
that never has there been a serpent seen in Ireland since the arrival of the JVIile- 
sians. TJie very clay of the country has been known to kill snakes, some few 
years ago in Rome." — Lynch. 

"St. Donat, an Irishman, who was bishop of Ferula, near Florence, in the tenth 
century, in describing his country, says — 

" Far westward lies an Isle of ancient fame, 

By nature blessed, and Scotia is her name : 

Enroll'd in books, exhaustless in her store, 

Of veiny silver, and of golden ore. 

Her fruitful soil forever teems with wealth, 

With gems her waters — and her air with health; 

Her verdant fields with milk and honey flow. 

Her woolly fleeces vie with virgin snow ; 

Her waving furrows float with bearded corn. 

And arms and arts her envied sons adorn. 

No savage bear with lawless fury roves. 

Nor rav"nous lion through the peaceful groves; 

No poison there infects, nor scaly snake 

Creeps through the grass, nor frogs annoy the lake : 

An Island worthy of her pious race, 

In war triumphant, and unmatched in peace." 

Flemm.ing's Miscellanies. 
t " Multitude avium venit circa ilium, ita ut non posset videre faciem cceH et 
terrse ac maris propter aves. 

" Jocelyn is the only biographer of St. Patrick that has spoken of the expulsion 
by him of serpents and other venomous creatures from Ireland. From his book 
this story made its way into other tracts, and even into some breviaries. Had such 
a wonderful circumstance really occurred, it would have been recorded in our An- 
nals and other works, long before Jocelyn's time."— Lanagan, Ecclesiast. Hist. 
chap. V. note 108. The learned Colgan, in exposing the weakness of this story, 
alleges, that in the most ancient documents of Irish' history, there is not the least 
allusion to venomous animals having ever been found in this country. 



288 

paired to the assembly, and, by his preaching, brought over to the 
faith of Christ not only the seven princes, including the new king, 
but also twelve thousand persons more, all of whom he soon after 
baptized. It is supposed that to these western regions of Ireland 
the Saint alludes, in his Confession, where he stated that he had 
visited remote districts where no missionary had been before ; — an 
assertion important, as plainly implying that, in the more accessible 
parts of the country, Christianity had, before his time, been preached 
and practised." Jocelyn further tells us, that while on the retreat 
on the summit of this mountain, he was enabled "by the power of 
God, to live, like Christ, Moses, and Elias, for the space of forty 
days, without any sustenance but water." 

But Dr. Lanagan treats this relation as a fiction. It might be ob- 
served, that although the ancient writers were scrupulous in adhe- 
ring to facts, they still felt no hesitation in embellishing the narra- 
tives of these facts with the colourings of fancy. The most distin- 
guished Roman Catholic divines have censured Jocelyn for falsifying 
the conduct and ministry of St. Patrick. That our apostle per- 
formed miracles, though not all that has been related of him, will 
not be doubted, except, indeed, by those who believe that the conver- 
sion of a great nation from a popular creed, associated with the most 
glorious eras in Irish history, to Christianity, was a matter of perfect 
indifference to God ; and that he looks with equal eyes on the Chris- 
tian and the infidel. Our creed was established by miracles — they 
are the very basis of the Christian church ; or, in spite of the specious 
sophistry of Hume, it must be admitted by every believer, that the 
power of performing miracles is the only means which can possibly 
be conceived of confirming a divine commission ; and when this 
commission is given for a singularly momentous and important pur- 
pose, it is worse than scepticism to deny that God would stamp it 
with the sacred seal, by which alone it can be recognized. On the 
approach of Easter, after he had finished his devotions on the moun- 
tain, he, with his disciples, repaired to the court of Hy Malia, or 
O'Maily, on the banks of Lough Corb, in the county of Mayo, the 
chief of the territory, where he was cordially received. Here, if we 
can credit some of the writers of his life, he not only baptized the 
chief, his lady, and seven children, but twelve thousand people, who 
were " attracted there," says Colgan, "by the fame of his piety and 
miracles." At this place he erected a church and an abbey. Were 
we to give a detail of all the churches and monasteries he built, we 
could fill two quarto volumes with the biography of St. Patrick. 
To such of our readers as wish to have a comprehensive, circum- 
stantial, and authentic life of the apostle of Ireland, we would beg 
to recommend the Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, written by the 
late Dr. Lanagan, an eminent Irish divine, and an historian, whose 
work exhibits the learning of the scholar, the acuteness of the phi- 
losopher, and the research of the antiquarian. 

The biography given, in the Lives of the Saints, of our apostle, 
by the Rev. Alban Butler, is a mere compilation from the silly and 
puerile fictions of Jocelyn. We might observe here, that the num- 
ber of histories written of the life of St. Patrick have only served to 



289 

confuse each othei*, and to render doubtful what would have been 
otherwise evident. Bishop Usher, guided by historic documents, 
placed in the college of Oxford and Cambridge, enumerates sixty- 
six authors who have honoured the memory of our patron saint with 
biographies. Those, however, that are chiefly worthy of notice, are 
his Confessions; his letter, preserved by Colgan, to Carotic, and 
some of the lives written by his immediate disciples. The Confes- 
sions of St. Patrick were written by himself. He commences his 
narrative of his own failings and faults, with the words " Ego Patri- 
cius pecator" I, Patrick, a sinner. The modesty, and humility, and 
mildness that recommend this detail, prove that our apostle emulated 
the virtues of his heavenly master. In that relation of the private 
thoughts of his heart, and of the venial errors of his life, he speaks 
of few miracles, but of many visions, in which God pointed out to 
him the path he was to pursue, and illuminate with the rays of the 
gospel. It is not unworthy of notice, and perhaps no small proof of 
their authenticity, that in the account of these visions there is noth- 
ing to be met with, either vain, puerile, improbable, or unbecoming 
the dignity and sacredness of the great work which he was called 
upon to accomplish, or of the majesty and mightiness of the celestial 
Being, by whom he was inspired with the resolution of undertaking 
so arduous and difficult a task as the conversion of Ireland. The 
subject of his letter to Carotic, the tyrant chieftain of east Urial, in 
the county of Armagh, was a cruel and barbarous action committed 
by this sanguinary oppressor, who, though a pretended Christian, 
slew and massacred a large number of converts to Christianity, 
while the saint was in the virtual act of administering to them the 
holy elements of the blessed eucharist ; and bore off others, who 
escaped the edge of the sword, as captives, and sold them to the 
Picts. 

Our apostle, trusting in omnipotent protection, represented to the 
barbarous and ruthless slaughterer, in this letter, the diabolical 
enormity of his crime, and demanded back the prisoners; but the 
despot contemning the holy man's expostulations, and regarding 
them with derision, he now promulgated a pastoral charge, address- 
ed to the Irish people, in which he loudly denounced the cruelty and 
injustice of the tyrant, and declared that the wrath of divine ven- 
geance would annihilate him, unless he made adequate penance, to 
appease offended heaven, and ample reparation to the friends of his 
victims, as well as the redemption of the captives whom he sold 
to the Picts. This letter rendered Carotic detestable even among 
his own followers, and its threats so terrified him, that in order to 
escape the horrors of his mind, he destroyed his life, by precipitating 
himself from the summit of a hjgh rock into the sea. 

The Confession of St. Patrick, and his letter to Carotic, are 
quoted by Usher, Ware, Colgan, Bolandus, and other writers, with 
glowing encomiums. 

"St. Patrick's Confession," says the Abbe M'Geoghegan, "is 
marked with such characteristics of truth, that, as a composition, it 
would stand by itself, though it had been quoted by no writer what- 
37 



290 

ever, and at the same time nothing can be discovered in it that can 
excite suspicion." 

The last church which our apostle built in Connaught was that of 
Sligo, then called Slegeach, or the bay of shells, over which he placed 
one of his disciples, Bron, as bishop. From thence he proceeded 
to tiie county of Donegal, where he caused several churches and 
abbeys to be built. He visited the counties of Derry and Tyrone, 
where he preached the gospel with great success, and built the ca- 
thedrals of Derry and Clogher. Leaving bishops in charge of these 
sees, he journeyed eastward, passed the river Bann, at Cuihathcn, 
now Coleraine. After having erected a church and abbey in Cole- 
raine, he directed his steps southward, and continued his course 
until he arrived at Armagh, when he became so enamoured of the 
beauty of the spot, and the charming scenery that encircles it, that 
he resolved to erect here a cathedral, which in magnitude of space 
and size, as well as majesty of architecture, should exceed all the 
other churches which he had founded in Ireland. In our account 
of the ancient architecture of Ireland, in the first volume of this 
work, we have already given a description of the cathedral and 
abbey of Armagh, so that we must decline treading over the same 
grounds again. St. Patrick began to build, according to Bishop 
Usher, the metropolitan cathedral of Ireland, A. D. 445. 

In addition to the immense number of churches which he caused 
to be built, he likewise founded the monasteries of Slane, Trion, 
and Domhuach-Phaedraig, in Meath ; Finglas, near Dublin ; Kille, 
(church,) Aiixelle, near Kildare ; Achad-Abla, in the county of 
Wexford; Galen, in the county of Carlow; Ardagh, in the county 
of Longford, — Inisbo-Fion and Inis-Cloghran, in the same county; 
Lough and Drumisken, in the county of Louth; St. -Peter and St. 
Paul's abbey, in Armagh ; Saul and Nendrim Abbey, in the county 
of Down; Rath-Muighe, in the county of Antrim ; Coleraine abbey, 
in the county of Derry ; Longh-Derg, in the county of Donegal ; 
Clogher, in the county of Tyrone; Inis-Muigh-Samh, in the county 
of Fermanagh; Cluan-Feis, Tuam, and Kille Chonall, in the county 
of Galway ; Inis-More, in the county of Roscommon; and Druirn- 
Lias, in the county of Sligo. He also founded the monasteries of 
Chian-Bronach and Druitnches, in the county of Longford; the 
abbey of Linnear Carrick-Fergus ; of Ross-Ben-Choir, in the county 
of Clare ; of Temple-Bride, and Temple-na-Feacta, in the county 
of Armagh; of Chiain-Dubhain, in the county of Tyrone; of Ross- 
Oirther, in the county of Fermanagh; and of Killaracht, in the 
county of Roscommon. 

After finishing the cathedral cliurch of Armagh, he repaired to 
the city of Dublin, in the hope of being more successful now in res- 
cuing the inhabitants from the dominion of paganism than he had 
been during his last visit. At the period of his arrival, an occur- 
rence took place which not only aff"orded him an opportunity of dis- 
playing his miraculous faculty, but a facility of converting Alphin, 
the chieftain of Dublin, his family, and all his people, to the true 
faith. On the evening of the saint's arrival, as we are informed by 
Colgan, the infant son of the prince fell into the Liffey and was 



291 

drowned. The grief of Alphin and his lady, in consequence, was 
sad and inconsolable. The fame of the miracles wrought by our 
apostle preceded him to Dublin ; and some of the females of the 
court being Christians, they humbly suggested to the princess to ap- 
ply to Saint Patrick, and beseech him to restore the child. She, 
eager to listen to any suggestion that related in the remotest degree 
to the recovery of the life of her beloved son, flew to the lodgings of 
the saint, and with streaming eyes threw herself on her knees before 
him, and in that posture, in the most moving terms implored him to 
restore her child to life. He, touched with her anguish and wail- 
ings, accompanied her to the palace, where the body of the child, 
just after being taken out of the water, lay. The moment he was 
conducted to the corpse, he fell on his knees, prayed fervently for 
some time, and then, touching the child wiih the stajf of Jesus, (as 
his crosier was called,) it instantly arose, and rushed into the arms 
of its transported mother. This miracle sufficiently demonstrated 
that St. Patrick was a divine minister, clothed in the authority of 
heaven ; and, in consequence, the chief, his family and people, pro- 
fessed themselves Christians, and submitted to the sacrament of 
baptism. 

The chieftain, as a token of his gratitude, made him a present of 
the present site of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the portions of land 
adjoining it. Here, A. D. 445, our apostle erected St. Patrick's 
Cathedral. 

"Notwithstanding," writes Moore, "however, the docile and de- 
votional spirit which he found everywhere, among the lower classes, 
and the singular forbearance with which, among the highest, even 
the rejecters of his doctrine tolerated his preaching it, yet that his 
life was sometimes in danger appears from his own statements; and 
an instance or two are mentioned by his biographers, where the 
peril must have been imminent.* On one of these occasions he was 
indebted for his life to the generosity of his charioteer, Odran ; who, 
hearing of the intention of a desperate chieftain, named Failge, to 
attack the Saint when on his wmy through the Ring's County, con- 
trived, under the pretence of being fatigued, to induce his master to 
take the driver's seat, and so, being mistaken for St. Patrick, re- 
ceived the lance of the assassin in his stead. t The death of this 
charioteer is made more memorable by the remarkable circum- 
stance, that he is the only martyr on record who, in the course of 

* In his Confession, the Saint makes mention of the sufferings of himself and 
followers, and of " the precautions he took against giving occasion to a general 
persecution, using, among other means, that of making presents' to the unconverted 
kings, some of whom, however, while obstinate themselves, allowed their sons to 
follow him : — " Interim prsemia," he says, " dabam regibus proter quod dabam 
mercedem filliis ipsorum qui mecum ambulant, et nihil comprehenderunt me cum 
comitibus meis." 

t Among the specimens of Irish manuscripts given by Astle, there is one from 
a tract relating to this event : — " This specimen," says the writer, " is taken from 
an ancient manuscript of two tracts, relating to the old municipal laws of Ireland. 
The first contains the trial of Enna, brother of Laogarius, chief king of Ireland, 
for the murder of Oraine, (Odran) chariot-driver of St. Patrick, before Dumpthac, 
(Dubtach) the king's chief bard, and the sentence passed thereon, about the year 
430." ^ 



292 

this peaceful crusade in Ireland, fell a victim by the hands of an 
Irishman. On another occasion, while visiting Lecale, the scene of 
his earliest labours, a design was formed against his life by the cap- 
tain of a band of robbers, which he not only baffled by his intrepidity 
and presence of mind, but succeeded in converting the repentant 
bandit into a believer. Full of compunction, this man, whose name 
was Maccaldus, demanded of St. Patrick what form of penance he 
ought to undergo for his crimes; and the nature of the task which 
the Saint imposed upon him is highly characteristic of the enter- 
prising cast of his own mind. The penitent was to depart from Ire- 
land immediately ; to trust himself, alone, to the waves, in a leathern 
boat, and taking with him nothing but a coarse garment, land on 
the first shore to which the wind might bear liim, and there devote 
himself to the service of God. This command was obeyed; and it 
is added that, wafted by the wind to the Isle of Man, Maccaldus 
found there two holy bishops, by whom he was most kindly received, 
and who directed him in his penitential works with so much spiriiual 
advantage, that he succeeded them in the bishopric of the island, 
and became renowned for his sanctity. 

" The most active foes St. Patrick had to encounter weie to be 
found naturally among those Magi or Druids, who saw in the system 
he was introducing the downfall of their own religion and power. 
An attempt made against his life, shortly before his grand work of 
conversion in Tyrawley, is said to have originated among that 
priesthood, and to have been averted only by the interference of one 
of the convert princes. Among the civil class of the Literati, how- 
ever, his holy cause found some devoted allies. It has been already 
seen that the arch-poet Dubtacth became very early a convert ; and 
we find the Saint, in the course of a journey through Leinster, pay- 
ing a visit to this bard's residence, in Hy-Kinsellagh, and consulting 
with him upon matters relating to the faith. The arch-poet's disci- 
ple, too, Fiech, was here admitted to holy orders by St. Patrick, 
and, becoming afterwards bishop of Sletty, left behind him a name 
as distinguished for piety as for learning. 

" The event, in consequence of which the Saint addressed his in- 
dignant letter to Coroticus, the only authentic writing, besides the 
Confession, we have from his hand, is supposed to have taken place 
during his stay on the Munster coast, about the year 450.* A Brit- 
ish prince, named Coroticus, who, though professing to be a Chris- 
tian, was not the less, as appears from his conduct, a pirate and 
persecutor, had landed with a party of armed followers, while St. 
Patrick was on the coast, and set about plundering a large district 
in which, on the very day before, the Saint had baptized and con- 
firmed a vast number of converts. t Having murdered several of 

* In the chronology of the events of St. Patrick's life, I have throughout fol- 
lowed Dr. Lanigan, than whom, in all respects, there cannot be a more industrious 
or trustworthy guide. 

t " De sanguine innocentiurn Christianorum, quos ego innumcros Deo genui., 
atque in Christo confirmavi, postera, die qua chrisma neophyti in veste Candida 
flagrabat in fronte ipsorum." — Confess. 

" We have here, in a few words," says Dr. Lanigan, " an exact description of 
the ancient discipline, according to which the sacrament of confirmation or chrism 



293 

these persons, the pirates carried off a considerable number of cap- 
tives, and then sold them as slaves to the Picts and Scots, who were 
at that time engaged in their last joint excursion into Britain. A 
letter despatched by the saint to the marauders, requesting them to 
restore the baptized captives, and part of the booty, having been 
treated by them with contumely, he found himself under the neces- 
sity of forthwith issuing the solemn epistle which has come down to 
us, in which, denouncing Coroticus and his followers as robbers and 
murderers, he, in his capacity of "Bishop established in Ireland," 
declares them to be excommunicated." 

For fourteen years after this period, he continued to travel through, 
and build churches, in all parts of the kingdom, so that in 460, a 
year prior to his going to Rome, the religion of the gospel was dis- 
seminated in every corner of the country. "Thus," writes O'Hal- 
loran, " by the prudence, moderation and good sense of the apostle 
of Ireland, was the whole nation brought to acknowledge the holy 
religion of Christ ; and this wonderful reform was conducted with so 
much wisdom, that it produced not the least disturbance or confusion. 
The Druids and their votaries were unmolested; and Christian bish- 
ops were appointed to succeed the arch-Flamens by those families 
only who, being converted, had a right to such nomination." 

Our saint, now that the entire people of Ireland had conformed 
to his creed, resolved to repair to the court of the supreme head of 
the Christian churcli, to render an account of the happy success of 
his mission in Ireland. After sailing from Dublin, he touched at 
the Isle of Man, then an Irish colony, with a view of converting the 
people, who were at that time immersed in the ignorance of hea- 
thenism. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

The Biography of St. Patrick continued. The cavils of Dr. Ledwich answered. 

Leaving St. German, one of his monks, in charge of the Christian 
community in the Isle of Man, he took his departure for Rome. 
On his arrival at the Pope's palace, he was honoured by the most 
distinguished notice from his Holiness, and the college of cardinals. 

Until now he bore the appellation of Succath Magonias, but the 
sovereign pontiff, for the purpose of testifying his satisfaction and 
approbation of the saint's success in Ireland, conferred on him the 
Patrician order. Patricius, therefore, was only his title, though it 
afterwards became his name. 

The Pope, not content with honouring our apostle thus, gave him 
also a pall, investing him with full powers to act not only as Legate, 

used to be administered immediately after baptism by the bishop, in case he were 
the baptizer or present on the occasion. We see also the white garment of the 
newly baptized." 



294 

but as Archbishop of Armagh, and primate of all Ireland. He re- 
turned to his see of Armagh in the beginning of the year 448, where, 
in conjunction with Auxelius and Isernius, he summoned all the 
Irish clergy to a national council. Here, it is stated by Jocelyn, he 
nominated thirty bishops, in virtue of his legantine authority. The 
canons of this memorable synod are, it is said by Taaffe, still extant 
in the archives of the Vatican. "In the eighth canon," writes Col- 
gan, "are the rules and regulations of the ancient combat for the 
trial of truth, which provided — 'that if a clerk become surety for a 
heatlien, and be deceived, he shall pay the debt; but if he enters 
into the lists with him, he shall be put out of the pale of the holj 
Roman Catholic church.' " 

At the synod of Armagh he established the authority of the church 
on a solid foundation. He divided the kingdom into sees, deaneries, 
rectories, and parishes, over which he placed eminent ecclesiastics 
of learning and piety. 

The church government which he now combined, organized, and 
consolidated, was in its form and details assimilated to that practised 
in the papal territories. It is a remarkable fact, that the sees which 
he then established, notwithstanding the change of religion, are 
continued within the limits which he defined, down to the present 
day. In this convocation, the see of Emly was given to St. Ailbe, 
Ardmore to St. Declan, and that of Aghavoe, now Ossory, to St. 
Kieran.* 

" " St. Patrick and his companions having rested and refreshed themselves sonie 
time at Liverpool, where they preached the gospel, and converted many hundreds 
of the inhabitants. On the spot where he performed those miracles which wrought 
the conversion, the inhabitants erected a cross in honour and memory thereof, and 
called it by his name, which to this very day it bears. From thence the saint and 
his disciples went to the Isle of Man, where he placed St. German, a canon of the 
Lateran church, as bishop." — Seacome's History of the Isle of Man, Liverpool edi- 
tion, A. D. 1741. 

It may be interesting to some of the readers of this history, to be furnished with 
the names of the Bishops which our saint appointed at this synod, to the different 
sees in Ireland. A. D. 455. 

He resigned the arch prelacy of Armagh to his beloved scholar, St. Benignus. 
The see of Clonard, now Meath, which then, and down to the year 1153, compre- 
hended the bishoprics of Duleek, Kells, Trim, Ardbracken, Slane, Dunshaughlin, 
was confided to St. Finian, the famous poet, philosopher, and divine. To the see 
of Clogher he appointed M'Cartin, the son of a powerful chieftain of the county 
of Tyrone. The cathedral of Clogher was built by St. Patrick some years before. 

" Clogher," says Ware, " seated on the Blackwater, has its name from a golden 
stone, where, during the time of paganism, the devil, like the oracle of Apollo, 
gave out deluding answers, as the register preserved in the cathedral has it." The 
first Bishop of Clogher, who was sainted for his virtues, died the 24th of May, 506. 
Although St. Patrick built the church of Down, A. D. 450, we do not find that he 
deputed a bishop to preside over it at this synod. The first bishop of the sees of 
Down and Connor was St. Cailan, who died, A. D. 518. The see of Raphoe was 
not founded until the days of St. Columb Kille. Kilmore is a see of comparatively 
recent erection. Andrew M'Brady was appointed by bull of Pope Nicholas V. its 
first bishop, A. D. 1453. The Bishopric of Ardagh, (the lofty hill,) in the county 
of Longford, he presented to his nephew St. Mela. The cathedral church was 
founded by St. Patrick. St. Mela died, A. D. 488. Derry was erected into an 
episcopal see by St. Lugene, A. D. 545, who was its first bishop. The see of 
Dromore, in the county of Down, owes its origin to St. Coleman, who died in 
576. Dublin was not an archiepiscopal see until 1038, when Donagh, a Dane, 
was consecrated its first bishop. Kildare, of this see St. Coulain was the first 



295 

When he had completed these ecclesiastical arrangements, he 
retired to the Island, in Lough Derg, (the red lake,) in the county 
of Donegal, for the purpose of mortifying himself hy abstinence, 
penance, and other ascetic privations. But in his retirement he did 
not entirely abstract his solicitude from the Irish church. Devotion, 
and the advancement of the holy faith in the enthusiasm of the peo- 
ple, now engrossed his whole attention. He presided at ditierent 
synods in various parts of Ireland, where the most salutary canons 
were enacted for the security of religion and morals. To dissemi- 
nate Roman literature through the country, we are told by Nennius, 
that he wrote, with his own hand, three hundred alphabets in the 
Roman character. 

Prior to this period, the Irish clergy celebrated the feast of Eas- 
ter, and adopted the time according to the calculation of the eastern 

bishop. He died on the 3d of May, 510. St. Eden, of the royal family of Lein- 
ster, was the first bishop of Ferns : he died in January, 632. The first bishop of 
Leighlin, was St. liascerian, who died in May, 603. 

The late Right Rev. Bishop Dovle, a gentleman who, in depth of education, 
strength of genius, and force of eloquence, has left no living superior on the epis- 
copal throne, and was the late Roman Catholic prelate of Kildare and Leighlin, 
We have before mentioned, in the text, that St. Ailbe, the contemporary of St. 
Patrick, was the first bishop of Cashel and Emley. The bishopric of Limerick 
was founded in the tenth century, by St. Munchin. Donald O'Brien, king of 
Munster, built the cathedral. Waterford was not a bishopric until 1094, when 
Malchus was the first prelate. Lismore, (or the great fort,) was united to the see 
of Waterford by a bull of Pope Urban V., A. D. 1358. St. Carthas was its first 
bishop : he died 14tli May, 638. It was this saint who built the cathedral of Lis- 
more. Cork became a bishopric under St. Bar, or Finbar, who flourished in the 
middle of the seventh centurj'. He built the cathedral of Cork. Cloyne was 
united to Cork under the prelacy of Jordan, bishop of both sees, in 1430, by virtue 
of a bull from Pope Martin V. Tlie cathedral of Cloyne was erected by St. Cole- 
man, a pupil of St. Finbar, a prelate of high birth and extensive education. He 
died in November, 604. Ross, formerly a separate bishopric, founded by St. Fa- 
cheran, " a wise and amiable man," writes Ware, in the commencement of the 
sixth century, is now an appendage of Cloyne and Cork. The saint built a cathe- 
dral there, the choir of which yet remains. The bishopric of Killaloe, in the 
county of Clare, was founded by St. Flenan, in 63D. He was the son of the king 
of Munster. This princely prelate erected a fine catliedral here. Jlrdfert. or the 
summit of miracles, was made an episcopal see by Art, the son of a chieftain of 
Kerry. The cathedral of Ardfert was originally founded by St. Bandan, in the 
seventh century. Finabore. in tiie county of Clare, was a bishopric. Our annal- 
ists are not agreed as to who built the cathedral, which is now a pile of ruins. It 
was dedicated to St. Faehnan. 

The Arch-bishopric of Tuam, in the county of Galway, was founded by St. 
Jarlath, the son of Loga O'Connor, king of Connaught. Sir James Ware, in his 
lives of the Irish Bishops, lauds the learning and piety of St. Jarlath. He studied 
in the famous school of Clonard. St. Brendan was his coadjutor bishop. It was 
this prelate who built the cathedral of St. Mary, in Tuam, in the year 602. In 
the eleventh century his remains were found entire in his tomb. Elphin, in the 
county of Roscommon, was established as a Bishop's see by St. Patrick. The 
cathedral was erected by our apostle in the middle of the fifth century. The first 
bishop was St. Asicus, a disciple of St. Patrick, who died, A. D. .540. Under the 
jurisdiction of the Bishop of Elphin are seventy-nine parishes. The see of Clon- 
tert owes its origin to St. Brendan. It was this saint erected the cathedral. He 
died on the 6th of May 577, and was buried under the great altar. 

St Patrick founded the see of Killala, in the county of Mayo, over which he 
placed St. Murdach. The festival of this saint is still celebrated on the 12th of 
August. In our topography of the different counties in which the sees and cathe- 
drals are situated, we shall be more circumstantial and comprehensive in our de- 
tails. 



296 

churches. The Jews, we perceive by their best authenticated his- 
tory, commemorated their passover on the fourteenth day of the 
moon, and their having put Christ to death, whilst they were cele- 
brating the feast of the paschal lamb; which induced the Christians 
to fix on their Easter festival. "St. Peter and St. Paul," says an 
able Catholic Divine, O'Leary, " after quitting Palestine, judged 
that the keeping the feast of Easter on the fourteenth day of the 
first moon was rather adopting the Jewish, than forming a new fes- 
tival ; they, therefore, transferred it to the Sunday after, unless that 
Sunday fell on the fourteenth. But St. John, and the churches of 
Asia and Africa, adhered to the first institution, and the Irish bish- 
ops followed these observances until the latter years of the prelacy 
of St. Patrick." 

What St. Patrick's opinion was, on this mere matter of discipline 
in the church, does not appear. " We do not," writes O'llalloran, 
*' find any mention of it during his mission ; and yet it is most cer- 
tain, that the Irish did then observe the Easter celebration after the 
Asiatic manner. From the remarkable attachment of the Irish to 
this custom, we have striking proofs of the foresight and wisdom of 
our apostle. He probably endeavoured to reconcile the Irish clergy 
to the practice of the universal church; and very likely laboured, 
also, to make them acknowledge the supremacy of Rome. Indeed, 
the Irish ecclesiastics were the last to submit to the Roman calcula- 
tion of Easter day. 

Our apostle, in the one hundred and eighteenth year of his age, 
took up his abode in Saul Abbey, in the county of Down, where, 
after a residence of two years, devoted to prayer and piety, he died 
in the fifteenth year of the reign of Lugha, 493, at the venerable 
and patriarchal age of one hundred and twenty-one. He was in- 
terred in the abbey of Down, which had been founded by himself. 
St. Bridget and St. Columba were afterwards buried in the same 
sepulchre, as appears from the Latin inscription on the tomb, which 
Cambrensis, in his topography of Ireland, tells us was quite legible 
in his day— 

" Hi tres duno, tumulo tumulantur, in uno, 
Brigida, Patricius, atque Columba Pivs. — " 
" In Down three saints one grave do fill, 
Bridget, Patrick, and Columb Kille." 

The saintly sepulchre of Down, in all its architectural and sculp- 
tural magnificence, its splendid shrine, adorned with the richest do- 
nations of piety, existed until Lord Deputy Grey demolished the 
one, and despoiled the other, in the true Gothic spirit that actuated 
the tasteless underlings of the tyrannic Henry VIII. and his licentious 
daughter, the murderous Elizabeth. Bu.t as we shall have occasion 
to speak of Lord Deputy Grey's administration in Ireland, in a fu- 
ture chapter, we will not expatiate on the subject here. We must 
not, however, omit to notice and reprehend the falsehoods which 
the national apostate, the late Dr. Ledwich, propagated respecting 
our national apostle. But it was with the hope of encircling his 
brows with a mitre that perverted the principles, and warped the 
Irish sympathies of Ledwich. This ambition, and the expectation 



297 

of his episcopal dignity, persuaded him to diverge from the fair 
course of truth, and honour, and justice, beyond the sacred precincts 
which reason has marked by an inviolable line of demarcation. 
His false assertions having passed thus irrevocably the boundaries 
of candour, the arguments of Malone, M'Dermott, and the erudite 
Dr. Milner, have affixed the mark of baseness upon them ; and they 
now necessarily stand exposed and self-convicted by their own in- 
cautious temerity. The verity of our annals has been strengthened 
by these writers, who have sustained them by new buttresses of log- 
ical deduction, so that they must now oppose an adamantine pano- 
ply against the futile mendacity of such recreants as Ledvvich. 

There is not in our Christian records any fact better substantiated 
than the existence of St. Patrick ; and we might assert, with a per- 
fect regard to truth, that there is no saint on the calendar whose life 
has been written by so many hands, as well natives as foreigners. 
It is loudly proclaimed by the universal tradition of the country ; by 
the very names of the churches which he built, the numerous sites 
of his pious erections ; — all might have convinced any one, except 
the coadjutors of Macpherson, of the idendity and real existence of 
our patron saint. But why should we wonder at any fool-hardy 
assertion of Ledwich, who wrote with all his miglit to subvert the 
credit of the entire body of our history, and to prove to Europe that 
our records were bottomed on the quagmire of poetic fiction? 

Dr. Ledwich opens the campaign of his national infidelity by ob- 
serving — "The existence of this saint," says he, "and his conver- 
sion of the Irish, are points not only firmly believed by the Irish, 
but referred to, as undeniable historic facts, by every writer who has 
treated of the civil and ecclesiastical history of the country. But 
about the year 1618, Dr. Ryves one of the masters in chancery in 
Dublin, and judge of the faculties, and prerogative court, to answer 
a calumnious and inflammatory libel, was obliged to consider mi- 
nutely the history of the established church." 

From the tenor of this delusive and deceiving passage, with which 
he endeavoured to throw a veil of fiction over the fact of our saint's 
existence, the impression might gain an ascendency in shallow 
minds that the apostle of Ireland was only an imaginary personage. 
For who can read the passage, without being led to suppose that 
Dr. Ryves, a prejudiced Englishman, totally unacquainted with our 
language, discovered from being obliged to consider minutely the 
history of the established church, (Seldon's, we presume,) that our 
saint was only the creature of fancy; yet no such thing appears. 
He, it is true, has his doubts, like the inglorious and unnational 
Ledwich, but he could not prove them well founded. 

The authority of Ryves, however, rather militated against the 
Utopian system of Dr. Ledwich, and it is only surprising that so 
cunning, sophistical, and plausible a disputant as Ledwich should 
have introduced it. 

We shall, however, without treading in the footsteps of Dr. Mil- 
ner, follow Dr. Ledvvich in his history of Dr. Ryves's silly doubts 
relative to the existence of St. Patrick. " Doubts," says this unfilial 
son of Erin, "arose in his mind as to the reality of our apostle, and 
38 



298 

of the age in which he is supposed to have flourished." However, 
before Dr. Ryves had seriously applied to an investijfation of these 
matters, he thought it proper and becoming to consult Camden and 
Usher,* the two great luminaries of British and Irish antiquities. 
To the latter he opens his objections ; — and first he observes, the 
wonderful miracles recorded of St. Patrick were neither common 
nor believed in the age in which he lived ; and this he proves from 
St. Augustin, who was contemporary with our apostle. Secondly, 
he argues from the silence of Platinus, who, though in his life of 
Pope Celestine mentions the sending of St. Gerraanius into England, 
and Palladius into Scotland, takes no notice of his appointing Pat- 
rick to Ireland, and therefore concludes he must have lived later 
than was generally supposed. Unacquainted with Camden, yet de- 
sirous of his opinion, Ryves prevailed on Usher to lay his letter be- 
fore him, which he did. Usher seems not to have acted friendly, im- 
partially, or candidly on this occasion; for, in his letter to Camden, 
enclosing that of Ryves's, he endeavours to prepossess him in fa- 
vour of St. Patrick, and even to point out what answer he should 
give. He, indeed, remarks, that "the ridiculous miracles fastened 
upon our saint were the work of later writers;" and in this Camden 
agrees. Dr. Ryves, thus discountenanced by the oracular decisions 
of these eminent men, and overborne solely by authority, no further 
pursued this curious subject, a few hints excepted, although his 
learning enabled him to bring it to a fair conclusion. On what 
weak, but specious, grounds of logic has the humble squire of 
Macpherson built up his system of historical imposition ! 

Such is Dr. Ledwich's history of a transaction which served, in- 
stead of contributing to his purposes, materially to strengthen the 
authority of our annalists, and to impress the relations of St. Patrick 
with the seal of veritable fact. If ever a man used arguments to 
defeat, nullify, and depreciate a fanciful theory, and impede its pro- 
gress in general opinion, that man was the late Dr. Ledwich. His 
reasoning and deductions are lame and impotent in the extreme ; 
and were brought, as a dernier reserve, into action by the unpatri- 
otic writer, to prop up his visionary hypothesis. What stronger 
proof, we would ask, could Dr. Ledwich have brought forward, if 
he wished to remove any doubts that might have been entertained 
of our saint's existence, than to represent an old, casuistical, incred- 
ulous lawyer, donbtirtg of it, and in order to satisfy his doubts, ap- 
plying to the " two greatest luminaries of British and Irish antigvities" 
' — Camden and Usher, who bath unceremoniously confirmed the ex- 
istence of the apostle of Ireland. "But," says the learned Doctor, 
" Usher seems not to have acted friendly, impartially, or candidly, 
on this occasion ; for, in his letter to Camden, he endeavours to pre- 
possess him in favour of St. Patrick." The impartial and intelligent 

* Archbishop Usher, whose fame shines as a primary luminary in our history 
and her literature, and whom Dr. Johnson declared the most learned man in Eu- 
rope in his atrp, was born in Dublin, in the year 1580. He received his education 
in Trinity Colleore. Dublin, Vi'liere he distinguished himself by his extensive eru- 
dition and classical eloquence. In 1G21 he was consecrated Bishop of Meath. At 
the special request of James I. he was translated, in 1624, to the archiepiscopal 
see of Armagh. He died in 1655. 



299 

reader must immediately perceive that this is a most unwarrantable 
and flagrant attack upon the honour and reputation of the immortal 
Bishop Usher. That erudite, profound, and virtuous prelate has 
been accused by an unprincipled defamer of his native land, of par- 
tiality and want of candour, because, forsooth, in his letter to Cam- 
den, he offers any opinion on a subject with which he was so pecu- 
liarly and intimately acquainted. If we were to confirm Dr. Led- 
wich's conclusions, we should admit that candour and impartiality 
consist in being silent, in regard to truth, and that those qualities, 
which moral philosophers have taught us to revere as virtues, were 
but the mere negatives of his ludicrous system of new-fangled ethics. 
But more of this in the next chapter ; for we feel it a duty incumbent 
on us to prove that Ledwich's history of Ireland is a base libel on 
our country. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

The objections of Dr. Ledwich against the existence of St. Patrick answered. 

Bishop Usher, in his letter to Camden, gave expression to his 
honest conviction ; for Dr. Ledwich, captious as he certainly was, 
had not the effrontery even to insinuate that the primate thought 
contrary to what he considerately affirmed in his deliberate commu- 
nication to the British antiquary ; and, indeed, there is little reason 
to suppose, that a protestant bishop of the privy council of king 
James I. would labour to prove the existence of a Catholic saint, if 
he had believed him an ideal personage. 

Dr. Ledwich endeavoured to impress his readers with the opinion 
that Usher and Camden deviated strangely from strict veracity in 
their concurrence in the supposition, that the ridiculous miracles 
fastened upon our saint were the work of later writers; "for," said 
he, in " the Roman martyrology, Erric of Auxerre, Nennius, and 
others, never omit St. Patrick's miracles when they name him. 
They are both coeval and from the same mint. Nor would an ar- 
gument so open to confutation ever have been brought forward, was 
a better to be found." What shallow logic, and futile conclusions ! 
For do we not know that every argument was open to confutation, 
vi^hen attacked by the sophistical weapons of Dr. Ledwich. We 
can, indeed, confute any argument, if we are permitted to add or 
detract from the sense of the author, because it is not then his argu- 
ment, but a sophistical metamorphosis, brought to aid our own pur- 
pose. Such was Dr. Ledwich's mode of confuting arguments in his 
crusade against our annalists. He maintained that arguments might 
be culled out like flowers from a parterre, ad lihiium ; and so indeed 
they might, if they were merely intended to adorn and diversify the 
walks of literature, instead of being employed on a grave subject 
which required lucid illustration, and the removal of the darkness 



300 

and obscurity that intercepted the meridian light of historical know- 
ledge and antiquarian research. But Dr. Ledvvich, though a good 
scholar, did not reason in the strong sjllogistical logic of Locke; 
for wheu in a false position, or a dilemma of reason, he mounts his 
noisy chariot, and, like old Salmoneus, who aifected the god comes 
thundering over his brazen bridge, overpowering his antagonists and 
readers at least by sound, if not by argument. 

He tells us, in his history, that Dr. Ryves " teas ovcrhorne solely hy 
authority ;''"' a tribunal from whose decisions he appeals to the high 
court of his own fanciful hypothesis, and here he offers in his plead- 
ing the omnipotent opinion of his friend Macpherson, which asserted 
that "the authority of a thousand learned men is not equal to one 
solid argument !" But what are arguments if not founded on author- 
ity ? for without the evidence of authority we cannot reason on as- 
serted facts, because we can have no pretence whatever to argue 
either for or against the truth of any thing recorded in the historic 
page. Authority, it is true, can have no weight in metaphysical 
and philosophical inquiries, but so far as it is found to coincide with 
reason and observation. The book of nature is open to all men, it 
is the same in all ages ; and he who can recognize the truths embla- 
zoned on its pages, imbibes information at the fountain head of 
rational philosophy. 

We do not believe a proposition in physics, geometry, or ethics, 
because a certain celebrated philosopher, or mathematician, has as- 
serted it to be true ; but because we find it to quadrate with the de- 
ductions of reason, which are eternal and unchangeable. We know 
that the truths of these propositions do not change with times, and 
that if they were true in the times of Pythagoras, Socrates, or Euc- 
lid, they must be so at the present time. Here then authority can 
never decide, though the precepts of others may guide us to those 
principles that enable us to judge for ourselves. But who will say 
that the knowledge of history is collected in the same manner 1 
Who, we ask, will affirm that we have the same means of ascertain- 
ing, at present, that the land of Egypt was afflicted by ten plagues, 
in the time of Pharaoh, as Moses and Aaron had, who were actual 
witnesses of the scene and occurrences; or that we could know any 
thing of this extraordinary visitation, if it had not been recorded by 
Moses ? Authority, then, is the sole arbiter of historical knowledge ; 
and '.he who, like Dr. Ryves. is overborne by authority ; he who sets 
up his own visionary conjectures on the tripod of imagination, to 
overawe and frown down its testimony, must be either blinded by 
folly, or infatuated by incorrigible bigotry and refractory prejudice. 
Dr. Ledwich was driven on by these passions beyond the pale of his' 
better reason and judgment, when he exultingly asserted, that though 
Dr. Ryves was overborne by authority, "his learning enabled him 
to bring it to a fair conclusion,''^ that is, that St. Patrick never exist- 
ed ! Learning, then, was, in the doctor's opinion, superior to au- 
thority in historical researches, and yet if he were now living, we 
would ask him, w hat is learning as it applies to historical narration 1 
and he could not help answering, that it is a knowledge of such facts 
and persons as are communicated to us, and verified by the author- 



301 

ity of historical writers. But why has not Dr. Ledwich told us how 
his learning enabled Dr. Ryves to conclude that St. Patrick never 
existed 1 

Surely this strange conclusion was not deduced from learning 
founded on authority, for we must not forget that he ^^ was overborne 

by it:' 

But if Dr. Ryves convinced himself, without any credible evidence 
of authority, that St, Patrick never existed, this species of ground- 
less and unreasonable proselytism, though considered by himself and 
his friend Ledwich very satisfactory, was doubted and decried by 
the learned ; — and because Usher and Camden resolutely opposed 
the absurd heresy of the new fangled theories, Ledwich fulminated 
a bitter anathema of wrath against their memories. 

We are to' remember, however, that the greatest fanatic, or the 
wildest enthusiast, is quite pleased with his own chimerical conclu- 
sions, no matter how improbable and romantic, or how repugnant 
they may be to common sense and inquiring reason. 

Dr. Milner, to whose powerful writings on the present subject 
we must acknowledge ourself much indebted for many of the au- 
thorities that confirm the existence of our apostle, fully exposes the 
sophistry and artifice of the arguments of Dr. LedAvich, regarding 
the errors that have crept into the calendars and martyrologies of 
the Roman Catholic church. To these errors, Dr. Ledwich alludes 
in the most exulting manner, and adduces them as grounds from 
which he deduced his conclusion, that St. Patrick was an ideal 
saint. But from this vantage ground, which he thought impregna- 
ble, the arguments of Dr. Milner soon compelled the champion of 
Macpherson to retreat. 

"These errors," says the profound and erudite divine, "have 
been detected, not by protestant, but by catholic hagiographers ; by 
BoUandus, and Baillet, and Butler, and Launoi, and Fleury. In 
the books mentioned by Dr. Ledwich, in particular, tlie errors de- 
nounced by him have been accurately corrected. Indeed in one of 
those liturgical books, St. Denis of Paris was confounded with St. 
Denis the Areopagite. In the next place, if it were reasonable to 
reject all ancient histories and records in which an error had been 
detected, we might throw the whole collection of them into the fire; 
for which of them is entirely faultless? After all, the errors now in 
question are not, generally speaking, those of the hagiographers, 
but of the present critic. He (Dr, Ledwich) pretends, indeed, that 
those eminent Catholic writers, Bollandus, Papebroch, Launoi, and 
Tillemont, rejected and spoke contemptuously of "the deified phan- 
toms," as he calls the saints in general. But what person of learn- 
ing is not indignant at this deception, it being notorious that those 
profound scholars spent the greater part of their lives in recording 
the histories, and illustrating the virtues of those very saints 1 In 
writing their works, the martyrologies were avowedly their first au- 
thority ; next to which were the most genuine acts of the saints 
they could procure. But what more particularly regards the present 
purpose is, we know that those learned scholars and enlightened 
critics have one and all acknowledged the existence in general of 



302 

Ireland's apostle, St. Patrick, and the authenticity in particular of 
the account which he gives of himself, in his celebrated " Confes- 
sion." Dr. Ledwich, having discharged these random shafts at our 
saint, comes now armed in the invulnerable panoply of irrefutable 
evidence, to consign him at once to the chartless regions of ideal 
existence. 

" I shall now," says the arch-apostate, "proceed with stronger 
evidence, to prove that our apostle was an imaginary [)ersonage. 
If he received his mission from Pope Celestine, his orders, in the 
Church of Rome, were graced with the archrepiscopal dignity, 
formed an hierarchy, and established rights and ceremonies from 
Roman originals, as Colgan, Jocelyn, and all his biographers boast. 
Can the utmost stretch of human ingenuity assign a reason why 
Cogitosus, Adamnan, Cummian, and Bede have passed over, without 
notice these interesting particulars ? Bede, whose predilections for 
Rome and her tenets, has led him into many errors, and whom all 
allow to have been well informed, never would have omitted so cap- 
ital an event as the conversion of Ireland by a holy missionary from 
Rome, and the miracles of that missioner, in support of his favorite 
doctrines, did such facts, or any tradition of them, exist in the be- 
ginning of the eighth century." 

Here the utmost stretch of human ingenuity is challenged to as- 
sign a reason why Cogitosus, Bede, and others passed over the con- 
version of Ireland by St. Patrick, unnoticed, if such a fact or any 
tradition of it existed in their time. The doctor probably thought 
to terrify the advocates of St. Patrick by this bold challenge, from 
attempting a task which he describes as insurmountable. But if 
St. Patrick did really exist and convert Ireland in the fourth centu- 
ry. Dr. Ledwich should have allowed that the fact was too well 
known and credited in the commencement of the eighth century, so 
as to render it unnecessary for these eminent ecclesiastical writers 
to say any thing in support of what was universally believed, and 
established on the most tenable grounds of historical evidence. 
Why should they come forward, and impose upon themselves the 
useless task of bearing testimony to the existence of a great and 
eminent apostle whom no one had denied ? But we are told that 
Bede would have been glad to record so " capital an event." If 
Bede had lived in Protestant times, and in a Protestant country, he 
might probably have been anxious to signalize the conversion of 
Ireland to catholicity, in his ecclesiastical history. 

We shall willingly admit to the followers of Dr. Ledwich, that 
the venerable Bede was zealously attached to the Roman see ; but 
we must deny that this attachment would have been a reason why, 
in his ecclesiastical history of England, he should deem it necessary, 
for the honour of that see, to speak of St. Patrick. The celebrated 
English historian was not giving his readers an account of the 
affairs of the Irish church, nor of its conversion to Christianity, and, 
therefore, as Dr. Milner properly observes, "had no greater reason 
to speak of St. Patrick than of St. Reghniiis, the apostle of the 
French." But does not Dr. Ledwich himself acknowledge, in his 
antiquities, that Bede makes an honorable mention of St. Patrick 
in his Martyrology ? 



303 

What greater, or more convincing testimony could the doctor re- 
quire to prove the existence of the Irish apostle than this ? But it 
is tiresome and profitless to pursue Dr. Ledvvich much farther 
through the traceless wikis of his theory — through a futile, though 
dogmatical, a specious, though glaringly sophistical and inconclusive 
train of negative arguments, plausibly suited, no doubt, to vulgar 
apprehension, which, were they even ingeniously and logically con- 
nected, could still prove nothing, inasmuch as negative arguments 
can afford no positive evidence, no positive proof, no positive his- 
toric elucidation ; and the reader conversant with Ledwich's anti- 
quities will observe that all his arguments against the real existence 
of St. Patrick are mere hypothetical phantoms, that vanish from the 
light of inquiry into their congenial sepulchres of sophistr3^ No 
one argument occurs in which the mind could fortify itself with the 
orthodoxy of reason, no strong hold for logical inquiry to make a 
stand against the assaults of disputation. In fine, there is nothing 
tangible that can be grasped — nothing, verily, that is marked with 
the distinctive features, and glowing with the pulsations of life, 
spirit, or reality. No such characteristic belongs to the controversial 
or polemical writings of the late Rev. Dr. Ledvvich. His arguments 
were too refined, too subtle and ethereal, to endure the grosser bonds 
of material encumbrance ; nay, they cannot even find a resting place 
in the remotest prospect of intellectual vision ; yet with all their 
negative nihility, they were pompously and dogmatically brought 
forward to prove, that Bishop Usher, General Vallancey, the Rev. 
Mr. Whitaker, Mr. Charles O'Connor, Dr. Keating, as well as 
Fleury, Mosheim, Tillemont, Cane, Nicholson, Harris, Ware, Hutch- 
inson, Camden, Shellman, Bollandus, Bellermen, Godwin, Parker, 
Bale, Colgan, St. Bernard, Prosper, Probus, Bede, Nennius, and a 
host of other able writers, were all the disciples of falseliood, who 
wished to impose upon posterity, by labouring to make them believe 
that a certain man named Patrick, who never existed but in their 
own minds, converted Ireland to Christianity ! The doctor, not 
content with all the invisible arrows which he shot at the memory 
of our apostle, like an evil-disseminating necromancer, kept his 
watchful serial sylphs, down to the period of his death, hovering on 
the wing of inquisitive privation, in order to discover a new train of 
phantasms, or negative arguments, by which he might triumph over 
all the positive testimony of antiquity. But his pertinacious cavils 
and futile objections have been so ably and conclusively overthrown 
and refuted by Dr. Milner, that it is almost unnecessary for us to 
dilate much farther on this subject. We shall therefore brinsf our 
narrative of St. Patrick towards a conclusion, by quoting the follow- 
ing passage from Dr. Milner's observations on the historical heresy 
of Dr. Ledwich : 

"Dr. Ledwich, the bold invader of historical truth, has elsewhere 
endeavoured to prop up his system of mingled scepticism and irreli- 
gion with the following chimerical assumption: 'The Christian 
missionaries found it indispensably necessary to procure some saint, 
under whose protection the inhabitants might live secure from tem- 
poral and spiritual evils. At a loss for a patron, they adopted a 



304 

practice derived from Druidical paganism, and pursued it to a great 
extent in the corrupt ages of Christianity. Thus of a mountain at 
Glendaloch, a saint was made, as of the Shannon, St. Senanus ; and 
of Down St. Dunus.' When our reverend sceptic first sported 
this ridicule on the great and good men, to whom he is indebted for 
his civilization, and for whatever he possesses of Christianity, the 
truly learned and judicious Charles O'Connor was living, who did 
not fail to call him to a proper account for his irreligious imposi- 
tions- This celebrated antiquary challenged him to prove a single 
instance of such pagan metamorphosis in the ecclesiastical history 
of Ireland; and descending to the particulars mentioned by Dr. 
Ledwich, he clearly showed that the Shannon or Senus, was so 
called many ages before the Christian saint, called Senanus, was 
born ; and with respect to the pretended St. Dunus, he denied that 
the name of any such saint was to be met with, except amongst the 
fabrications of the veritable doctor. But after the innumerable au- 
thorities, some of them the contemporaries of the holy man, that 
have attested the existence and mission of St. Patrick, it were as 
reasonable to question the existence of all personages deceased, 
concerning whom we have no contemporary, or other authentic 
records, composed within three or four centuries from that in which 
they lived, for then we might deny there ever were such men as 
Romulus, Cyrus, Abraham, or Adam himself." Dr. JMilner has in- 
deed annihilated the theories of Ledwich, — he has finally set them 
to rest in as decisive and powerful a refutation as ever overwhelmed 
an insulting, arrogant, and unfair adversary. For Dr. Ledwich was 
a dogmatic and insolent disputant, who never brought the generosity 
of literary chivalry with him into the lists of controversy. He had, 
we allow, a strong vein for rude irony and frowning contempt ; as 
he generally mocked the argument which he could not subvert, and 
ridiculed the virtue which lie could not emulate. He not only as- 
sailed the living, but calumniated the dead; for he has not spared 
the sacredness of the grave, nor given quarter to the most illustrious 
shades of our Milesian progenitors, whose spirits still live, and shall 
live, in the historic remembrance of their virtues. His motive and 
aim were to despoil their tombs of the trophies with which ages 
adorned them, to blot out the records of their exploits from the es- 
cutcheons of immortality, and to" tarnish the lustre which he could 
not reflect back iipon them. 

"The see of Armagh," writes Moore, "being now established, 
and the great bulk of the nation won over to the faith, St. Patrick, 
resting in the midst of the spiritual creation he had called up round 
him, passed the remainder of his days between Armagh and his fa- 
vourite retreat, at Sabhul, in the barony of Lecale, — that spot which 
had witnessed the first dawn of his apostolical career, and now 
shared in the calm glories which surrounded its setting. Among 
the many obvious fables with which even the best of the ancient 
records of his life abound, is to be reckoned the account of his jour- 
ney to Rome, after the foundation of Armagh, with the view of ob- 
taining, as is alleged, from the pope, a confirmation of its metropo- 
litical privileges, and also of procuring a supply of relics. This 



305 

story> invented, it is plain, to dignify and lend a lustre to some relics 
shown in later times at Armagh, is wholly at variance with the 
Saint's written testimony, which proves him constantly to have re- 
mained in Ireland, from the time when he commenced his mission 
in the barony of Lecale, to the last day of his life. In the document 
here referred to, which was written after the foundation of Armagh, 
he declares expressly that the Lord "had commanded him to come 
among the Irish, and to stay with them for the remainder of his 
hfe." 

" Among the last proceedings recorded of him, he is said to have 
held some synods at Armagh, in which canons were decreed, and 
ecclesiastical matters regulated. Of the canons attributed to these 
early Synods, there are some pronounced to be of a much later date, 
while of others the authenticity has been, by high and critical au- 
thority, admitted.* 

"The impression that his death was not far distant, appears to 
have been strong on the Saint's mind when he wrote his Confession, 
the chief object of which was, to inform his relatives, and others in 
foreign nations, of the redeeming change which God, through his 
ministry, had worked in the minds of the Irish. With this view it 
was that he wrote his parting communication in Latin, though fully 
aware, as he himself acknowledges, how rude and imperfect was 
his mode of expressing himself in that tongue, from the constant 
habit he had been in, for so many years, of speaking no language 
but Irish. 

" In his retreat at Sabhul, (A. D. 465,) the venerable Saint was 
seized with his last illness. Perceiving that death was near at hand, 
and wishing that Armagh, as the seat of his own peculiar see, should 
be the resting-place of his remains, he set out to reach that spot ; 
but feeling, on his way, some inward warnings, which the fancy of 
tradition has converted into the voice of an angel, commanding him 
to return to Sabhul, as the place appointed for his last hour, he 
went back to that retreat, and there, about a week after, died, on 
the 17th of March, A. D. 465, having then reached, according to 
the most consistent hypothesis on the subject, his seventy-eighth 
year. No sooner had the news spread throughout Ireland that the 
great apostle was no more, than the clergy flocked from all quarters 
to Sabhul, to assist in solemnizing his obsequies ; and as every bishop, 
or priest, according as he arrived, felt naturally anxious to join 
in honouring the dead by tlie celebration of the holy mysteries, the 
rites were continued without interruption through day and night. 
To psalmody and the chanting of hymns the hours of the night were 
all devoted ; and so great was the pomp, and the profusion of torches 
kept constantly burning, that, as those who describe the scene ex- 
press it, darkness was dispelled, and the whole time appeared to be 
one constant day. 

* Several of these canons appear to have been drawn up at a time when Pag'an- 
ism was not yet extinct in Ireland. Thus, among the canons of the synod of Pat- 
rick, Auxilius, and Esserninus, the eighth begins thus, — " Clericus si pro gentili 
in Ecclesiam recipi non licet;" and in the fourteenth, " Christianas qui . . . more 
Gentilium ad aruspicem meaverit." 

39 



306 

" In the choice of a successor to the see there could be no delay 
nor difficulty, as the eyes of the saint himself, and of all who were 
interested in the appointment, had long been fixed on his disciple 
Benignus, as the person destined to succeed him. It was remem- 
bered that he had, in speaking of this disciple when but a boy, said, 
in the language rather of prophecy than of appointment, " He will 
be the heir of my power." Some writers even assert, that the see 
was resigned by him to Benignus soon after the foundation of Ar- 
magh. But there appear little grounds for this assertion, and, ac- 
cording to the most consistent accounts, Benignus did not become 
bishop of Armagh till after St. Patrick's death. 

" Besides the natives of Ireland contemporary with our Saint, of 
whom, in this sketch of his life, some notice has been taken, there 
were also other distinguished Irishmen, of the same period, whom it 
would not be right to pass over in silence. Among the names, next 
to that of the apostle himself, illustrious, are those of Ailbe, " another 
Patrick," as he was fondly styled, the pious Declan, and Ibar ; all 
disciples of St. Patrick, and all memorable, as primitive fathers of 
the Irish church. To Secundinus, the first bishop,* as it is said, 
who died in Ireland, (A. D. 448,) is attributed a Latin poem or hymn 
in honour of St. Patrick, in which the Saint is mentioned as still 
alive, and of whose authenticity some able critics have seen no rea- 
son whatever to doubt.t There is also another hymn, upon the 
same subject, in the Irish language, said to have been written by 
Fiech, the disciple of the poet Dubdacht, but which, though very 
ancient, is evidently the production of a somewhat later period. 

"While these pious persons were, in ways much more effective 
than by the composition of such dry, metrical legends, advancing 
the Christian cause in Ireland, a far loftier flight of sacred song 
was, at the same time, adventured by an Irish writer abroad, the 
poet Shie!, or (as his name is Latinised) Sedulius,| who flourished 

^ This bishop was sent, in the year 439, together with two others, to aid St. 
Patrick in his mission ; as we find thus recorded in the Annals of Inisfallen : — 
" Secundinus et Auxiharius (Auxihus,) et Esserninus mittuntur in auxilium Pa- 
tricii, nee taraen tenuerunt apostolatum, nisi Patricius solus." 

t " I find no reason," says Dr. Lanigan, " for not considering it a genuine work 
of Secundinus." 

The strophes of this hymn, consisting each of four lines, begin with the letters 
of the alphabet; the first strophe commencing, " Audite oranes amantes Deum;" 
and the last, " Zona Domini praecinctus." 

t There has been some controversy respecting our claims to this poet, who, it is 
alleged, has been confounded with another writer, of the same name, in the ninth 
century, universally admitted to have been an Irishman. The reader will find 
the question sifted, with his usual industry, by Bayle (art. Sedulius.) Among the 
numerous authorities cited by Usher, in favour of our claim to this poet, the title 
prefixed to a work generally attributed to him (Annotations on Paul's Epistles,) 
would seem decisive of the question : — '• Sedulii Scoti Hyberniensis in omnes 
Epistolas Pauli Collectaneum." The name, Sedulius, too, written in Irish Sied- 
huil, and said to be the same as Shiel, is one peculiar, we are told, to Ireland, no 
instance of its use being found in any other country. By English scholars, it will, 
I fear, be thought another strong Irish characteristic of this poet, that he sometimes 
erred in prosody. " Dictio Sedulii," savs Borrichius, " facilis, ingeninsa, nume- 
rosa, parspicua, sic satis nmnda — si excipias prosodica quBedam delicta." — Disser- 
tat. de poet. 

In praising the Paschale Opus of Sedulius, pope Gelasius had described it as 



307 

in this century,* and, among other writings of acknowledged merit, 
was the author of a syjirited Iambic poem upon the life of Christ, 
from which the Catholic church has selected some of her most beau- 
tiful hymns. t 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



Accession of Laoghaire. — He attempts to enforce the Leinstcr tribute, is defeated in 
battle and taken prisoner. — His reign and death. — Laoghaire, the son of JYial the 
Great, as related in a former chapter, succeeded to the throne after the demise of 
his brave uncle, Dathy. 

Our historians have fixed the epoch of Laoghaire's accession in 
the year 42S, of the Christian era. He acquired great experience 
in war ; in the cainpaigns of his father Nial and his uncle Dathy, 
and on several great occasions he displayed the most signal feats of 
intrepidity and courage. To a prince like him, whose darling pas- 
sion was ambition, and whose desire was to shine in martial renown, 
the calm of peace was disagreeable. His daring spirit could not 
languish in the luxuries of a court, nor repose in the sunshine of an 
inactive reign. War was the native element of his soul, it was the 
object that attracted his inclinations. An ambitious monarch like 
him, with a great standing army, could not long want a pretext for 
commencing hostilities on a neighbouring state. The Britons having 
refused to pay the tribute to which his father Nial made them sub- 
ject, he resolved, in consequence, to exact it by the force of the 
sword. 

In conjunction with his allies, the Picts, he made an incursion 
into Britain, defeated such of the inhabitants as appeared in arms, 
wasted the country, and compelled the people not only to pay him 
the contributions which he originally demanded, but to deliver up to 
him hostages for the faithful performance of the conditions of the 

written " heroicis versibus;" but, by an unlucky clerical error, the word " here- 
ticis" was. in the course of time, substituted for "heroicis," which brought our 
Irish poet into much disgrace at Rome, and led some canonists, it is said, to the 
wise decision, " Omnia poemata esse heretica." 

* Not content with the honour of contributing, thus early, so great an ornament 
to foreign literature, some of our writers have represented Sedulius as producing 
his poems in Ireland; and referred lo his classical knowledge as evidence of the 
state of literature in that country. Thus O'Halloran : — " That poetry was pas- 
sionately cultivated in our schools, and classical poetry too, I have but to refer to 
the writings of the famous Sedulius." — Vol. iii. chap. 7. Even Mr. D'Alton has 
allowed himself to be tempted by his zeal for Ireland into an encouragement of 
the same delusion. " The treasures of Roman lore," he says, " were profitably 
spread over the country : the writings of Sedulius testify that classic poetry was 
cultivated at a very early period in Ireland." 

t The Paschale Opus of Sedulius is in heroic metre, and extended through five 
books. His Iambic Hymn, which has been unaccountably omitted by Usher, in 
his Sylloge, commences thus, — 

" A solis ortus cardine, 
Ad usque terras limitem." 



308 

peace which he granted to them. Rapin, it will be observed by the 
intelligent reader, alludes to this invasion of Britain by the Irish, in 
his history. 

Returning home enriched with spoils and flushed with victory, 
his restless spirit could find no repose under the olive of peace. 
His army being now brave, numerous, and disciplined, he imagined 
that he could easily force the king of Leinster to pay the tribute 
which so many of his predecessors attempted to exact. 

Criomthan Kinsellagh, the son of Eana, who so gallantly opposed 
the grandfather of this monarch, Eochaidh, was now king of Lein- 
ster. This prince indignantly refused to pay the required impost. 
The refusal, of course, was deemed by Laoghaire as tantamount to 
a declaration of war. Criomthan saw the storm gathering around 
him without dismay, and made every preparation to brave the shock 
of its explosion. At his call the people of Leinster flew to arms, 
and arrayed themselves under the banner of their king. Criomthan, 
by policy and address, persuaded Nafraoich and Luigh, kings of 
north and south Munster, to become his allies. Strengthened by 
this confederacy, he began to entertain sanguine hopes of success 
in the approaching war. But before the allies had reached Kilken- 
ny, the monarch carried fire and sword to the town of AVexford, 
and succeeded in capturing the palace of Ferns, in which he found 
a great quantity of treasure. Criomthan, on his approach, retreated 
to a strong post in the county of Kilkenny, where he determined to 
await the arrival of his allies. Laoghaire, wishing to give some 
repose to his troops, after their long march, established his head-quar- 
ters in Wexford. As soon as the Munster forces had joined the 
king of Leinster, he, with his combined army, marched towards the 
camp of the monarch. Laoghaire not considering Wexford a 
favourable battle-ground, retreated to Atha-Dara, an extensive plain, 
near Monastereven, in the county of Kildare. Here both parties 
mutually agreed to decide their differences by the fate of a battle. 

The conflict, as usual, was desperately disputed, and feats of 
heroism and genius were displayed on both sides of the highest char- 
acter; but after a prolonged struggle as fierce as it was brave, the 
monarch was overpowered by the allied troops, and taken prisoner ; 
nor could he purchase his freedom but on condition of discharging 
the Lagenians* from all future tribute and vassalage. 

To these conditions he was reluctantly obliged to submit, and to 
take a solemn oath that he would fulfil their obligations. 

But oaths have seldom restrained regal power: kings, in all ages, 
have disregarded their sacred obligations, and only adhered to them 

* The inhabitants of Leinster were called Lagenians from the Irish name of 
Leinster, Lainscach, which is derived from Lahhra Laoinseach, who was monarch 
of Ireland, A. M. 3685. He, during the usurpation of his uncle Cohhthach, resided 
in France, the king of that country being his uncle, who entrusted him with tlie 
chief .command of his army. '■' He," says O'Halloran, " first introduced into L-e- 
land the use of the Laighcan, or Gaulish spear, and he set many foundries at work 
in Wexford for the fabrication of these instruments of war; hence, ever after, 
Leinster Avas distinguished by the rest of the nation by the name of Coige Laig- 
hean, or the province of spears." For a more particular account of the derivative 
of Leinster, we beg to refer the reader to the XVI. chapter of our history of Ire. 
land. 



309 

while their power was too feeble to violate them. Laoghaire, there- 
fore, as soon as he recovered his liberty, protested against the treat- 
ment he had received ; alleged that his oath was compulsory, and, 
in consequence, refused to submit to the restrictions which it had 
imposed upon him. Accordingly, as soon as he returned to Tara, 
he began, with the most spirited activity, to recruit his army. 
Criomthan, on the other hand, was not idle. He filled up all the 
chasms made in his ranks during the last war, and did every thing 
that could conciliate the friendship and good opinion of the princes 
of Munster. To reward Luigh Dealboid, the king of north Munster 
and general of the Dalgais, he gave him a grant of a large tract of 
land in Meath, which was possessed by his posterity, the Dealbhnas 
and O'Finnallads, until the twelfth century, when they were despoiled 
of it by Hugo De Lacy, who made a grant of it to Gilbert De Nu- 
gent, the ancestor of the present earl of West Meath.* Laoghaire, 

*■ Hugo De Lacy held the highest place in the confidence and regard of Henry 
II. Prior to the king's departure from Ireland, in 1173, he made De Lacy a grant 
of the entire county of Meath, and promoted him to the high office of Governor of 
Dublin. The better to secure his possessions, De Lacy contrived to win the affec- 
tions of the Princess Rosa O'Connor, the daughter of King Roderick, and to es- 
pouse her. This union gave him a strong hold in the popularity of the Irish, who 
reverenced their Milesian princesses with romantic enthusiasm. The just and 
impartial government of De Lacy in Ireland, as well as the popularity that he ac- 
quired by his marriage with an Irish princess, exposed him to tlie envy and malice 
of his countrymen, who excited the jealousy and fears of Henry so much, that he 
recalled him to England. But the moment he came before Henry, he vindicated 
his conduct with such a force of eloquence, that he reinstated him in all his digni- 
ties, and invested him with full powers to act as his lord deputy in Ireland. After 
resuming his government, he built several forts in his principality of Meath, to 
defend it from the attacks of the Irisli chieftains, the O'Riellys and O'Rourkes. 
In his progress of erecting these forts, he determined to demolish the old abbey of 
Dorrowe, near Kells, which was founded by St. Columb Kille. All tiie Irish 
workmen, shocked at his impiety in profaning, by such sacrilege, an edifice con- 
secrated aud built by their ro3'al saint, indignantly refused to demolish the abbey. 
De Lacy, irritated by this refusal, began to use harsh expressions to the workmen ; 
whereupon one of them snatched a battle-axe " and," says Leland, " with one vig- 
orous blow smote off his head." This occurred in August, 1186. Prior to the 
death of De Lacy, he gave to Sir Gilbert De Nugent, as a marriage portion with 
his sister Margaret, an assignment of the lordships of Delvin More (great) and 
Delvenbeg (little) in the county of Meath, which his descendants possess until 
this day. 

Henry ennobled De Nugent by the title of baron of Delvin. His descendant, 
Richard Nugent, eighth baron of Delvin, was elevated to the office of lord deputy 
of Ireland, by Henry VIII. in 1528. But he did not enjoy his " palmy state" 
long; for in an incursion which he made into the country of O'Connor, the kino-'s 
county, he was captured and imprisoned by that gallant chieftain. Richard, the 
tenth baron, was imprisoned by James I. on the charge of being concerned in the 
imaginary conspiracy of the O'Niels, O'Donnels, O'Doughertys, Maguires, and 
M'Mahons, in 1697. But after effecting his escape from the castle of Dublin, he 
fled to England, procured an audience of .the king, and succeeded in ingratiating 
himself so much in the good graces of the monarch, that he created him Earl of 
West Meath. His grandson, Richard, the second earl, fought gallantly against 
Cromwell ; in consequence of which, that execrable tyrant caused an act of parlia- 
ment to be passed for confiscating his properties, and exempting him from pardon 
for life. But on the restoration of Charles II. in 1661, he recovered his dignities 
and estates. 

To trace down the genealogy of the Nugent family since that period is unneces- 
sary, as the reader will find a relation of their marriages and deaths in the Irish 
peerage. 



310 

now overran as a conqueror Leinster with a mighty army, and com- 
pelled Criomthan to pay him the tribute which he demanded. This 
conquest enriched the exchequer of the monarch, and enabled him 
to prepare another expedition for Britain, on a most extensive scale. 

At this juncture, 436, the Britons, hearing of the designs of the 
Irish monarch on their country, elected a military chieftain (Vorti- 
gern) as their king. He levied an army, with which he marched 
to north Britain, to oppose the Irish king, and his allies, the Picts. 
But in a battle which took place at Carlisle, Vortigern was totally 
defeated. The disasti-ous result of the engagement completely 
humbled the Britons, and obliged them to solicit the aid of the Sax- 
ons. In their consternation and dismay, they retreated to the bor- 
ders of Wales, whence the victorious Irish monarch pursued them. 
The arrival of the Saxons, however, revived their spirits, and the 
united armies made head against the Irish invaders with success ; 
and Britain, through the assistance of her new auxiliaries gained a 
temporary relief from the distresses of war. But the Britons were 
unworthy of possessing a land which they had not the spirit to de- 
fend ; and the extremities to which they were reduced by their Saxon 
allies, as we learn from English history, were much more severe 
than all they had hitherto endured from the Irish and Picts. Laog- 
haire, however, by a superior force, was necessitated to retreat to 
Caledonia. Here he occupied an advantageous position, in the 
mountains, where he intended to defend himself until he could pro- 
cure reinforcements from Ireland. Several months elapsed before 
the succours from his kingdom had arrived. While the king was 
impatient for the assistance of his new levies, he was in the habit, 
on every serene evening, of setting himself on the summit of a moun- 
tain overlooking the sea, to gaze on the far-extended ocean, and to 
strain his longing eyes, endeavouring to discern the approach of his 
fleet in the distant perspective. 

But as his eyes were at length blessed with a view of the long 
expected armament, he was killed by lightning, in the thirtieth year 
of his reign. "It is indeed," says M'Dermott, " somewhat singu- 
lar, that he and his predecessor should both meet their fate from 
this dangerous element, and that both should be ascribed to similar 
causes. Dathy's to that of having violated the cell of a hermit ; and 
Laoghaire's, to the violation of the treaty he had made with the 
Lagenians, and which he consecrated with an oath." The contem- 
poraries of Laoghaire were Criomthan Kinsellagh, king of Leinster, 
Muireadhach O'Niel, king of Ulster, Dungabach O'Connor, king of 
Connaught, and Angus M'Carthy, king of Lcath Moga, or Munster. 
The character of Laoghaire, was a compound of vice and virtues. 
His ambition stifled the voice of justice in his mind ; all the noblest 
qualities of his heart were diverted from the channel in which nature 
had designed them to flow, by the power which that passion exer- 
cised over his best feelings. 

We must here observe, that our annalists have given us but scanty 
details of this reign, which was so distinguished by conquest and 
martial exploits. The cause, we think, may be attributed to the 
engrossing attraction of the complete change and reformation in the 



311 

religion of the country. We may naturally conclude, that the intro- 
duction of Christianity interfered witli that public attention which 
had hitherto been paid to the national records. The propagation 
of the gospel employed, at this epoch, the zeal, as well as the talent 
of the learned; and experience informs us, that in all sudden changes 
and revolutions, while the public attention is directed to one great 
national object, either through the interest which it creates, or the 
passion for novelty that it nourishes, matters of minor consideration, 
are deemed unworthy of assiduous regard. But, as in the physical 
world, when the laws of nature are interrupted by a partial suspen- 
sion of their operations, we have reason to apprehend some violent 
reaction, or explosion, to restore the equilibrium ; so, in the moral 
world, partial evils must be endured before universal good can be 
acquired. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 



The state of the Scots in Britain and the progress of Catholicity in Ireland from the 
fifth to the sixth century. 

Mk, Moore, in his history, presents the following clear and copi- 
ous review of the connection tliat subsisted, during the days of St. 
Patrick, between the Irish and the Caledonians — as well as of the 
progress and state of the Catholic religion in Ireland, from the fifth 
to the sixth century. 

"It has been seen, from the letter of St. Patrick to Coroticus, 
that, so late as the middle of the fifth century, the incursions of the 
Picts and Scots into the territories of the Britons had not yet been 
discontinued. About the commencement of the same century (A. 
D. 409,) Britain had ceased to form a portion of the Roman empire ; 
the separation, according to some opinions, having been voluntary 
on the part of Britain,* while far more obviously it is to be accounted 
for by the enfeebled state of the Roman power, which rendered the 
occupation of so remote a province no longer practicable. How 
little prepared were the Britons themselves for independence, at this 
period, appears from the helplessness of their struggle against the 
aggressions of their neighbours, and the piteous entreaties for aid" 
so often addressed by them to Rome ; while the prompt attention, 
as far as the resources of the sinking empire would admit, which- 
these appeals generally received, proves the reluctance with which 
the connection was then severed to have been mutual. 

"In consequence of their urgent solicitations to Honorius, that 
emperor despatched to the aid of the Britons a single legion, which, 

* Dr. Lintrard has followed Gibbon in asserting, on no other authority than a 
few words of Zosimus, that the Britons at this time voluntary threw off their alle- 
giance. But the force of evidence, as well as of probability, is all opposed to such 
a supposition. 



312 

for a time, suspended the attacks of their invaders; but no sooner 
was this legion withdrawn for the protection of Gaul, than again ^e 
Scots and Picts, breaking through the now unregarded wall of 
Severus, or else sailing around the ends, carried their ravages into 
the very heart of Britain. Once more, the interference of the Ro- 
mans succeeded in turning aside this scourge. Ambassadors, sent 
from the suffering province to Valentinian, and appearing before 
hira, as is said, with their garments rent, and sand strewed over 
their heads,* so far excited the emperor's pity, that a last effort was 
made for them, and a force, under the command of Gallio of Ra- 
venna, despatched seasonably to their relief. As in all the preceding 
cases, however, the interposition was but temporary. The Roman 
general, summoned away, with the whole of his force, to repress 
rebellion in Africa, aniiounced to the Britons that they must thence- 
forward look to their own defence ; and, from that period, the impe- 
rial protection was entirely withdrawn from the island. No sooner 
had the Romans taken their departure than the work of rapine 
recommenced ; and, as the historian of these devastations expresses 
it, " foul droves of Picts and Scots emerged from out their currachs, 
just as, when the sun is at his burning height, dark battalions of 
reptiles are seen to crawl from out their earth-holes. "t Both in 
this writer and in Bede we find the most frightful representations 
of the state of misery to which the Britons were now reduced by 
the "anniversary" visitations of their spoilers. | 

" From the period of Gallio's command, (A. D. 426,) during 
which was erected, between the Solvvay and Tyne, the last and 
most important of all the Roman walls, we hear no more of the suf- 
ferings of the Britons till the time when St. Patrick addressed his 
letter to Coroticus, and when that last great irruption of the Picts 
and Scots took place, which drove the Britons at length, in their 
despair, to invoke the perilous protection of the Saxons. It was in 
the extremity to which they had then found themselves reduced, that, 
looking again to the Romans, they addressed to ^tius, the popular 
captain of the day, that memorable letter inscribed "The Groans 
of the Britons." But the standard of Attila was then advancing 
towards Gaul, and all the force of the empire was summoned to 
oppose his progress. Rome, prodigal so long of her strength to 
others, now trembled for her own safety ; and the ravagers of Britain 
were, accordingly, left to enjoy their prey undisturbed. 

"By the arrival of the Saxons, the balance of fortune was soon 
•turned the other way; and the Scots and Picts became, in their 

* " Itemque mittuntur queruli Legati, scissis, ut. dicitur, vestibus, opertisque 
sablone capitibus, impetrantes a Romanis auxilia," »&c. — Gixdas. 

t " Itaque illis ad sua revertenlibus, ernergunt certatim de Curicis quibus sunt 
trans Scjthicam vallem vecti, quasi in alto Titane, incalescentesque caumate, de 
arctissimis foraminum cavernulis, fusci vermiculorum cunei,tetri Scotorum Picto- 
rumque greges," &c. — Gildas. 

For the purpose of representing his countrymen, in ancient times, as Troglo- 
dytes, the reverend antiquary, Ledwich, has not hesitated to separate the simile in 
this passage from the context, and to produce it as evidence that the Irish at that 
time lived in earth-holes. 

t Quia anniversarias avide prredas, nullo obsistente, trans maria exaggerabant. — 
Gildas, c. 14. 



313 

turn, the vanquished. To the unhappy Britons, however, this suc- 
cess brought but a change of evils; as their treacherous allies, having 
first helped them to expel the Scots and Picts, then made use of the 
latter, as auxiliaries, to crush and subjugate the Britons. In all 
these transactions it is to be remembered, that under the general 
name of Scots are comprehended not merely the descendants of the 
Irish colony, long settled in North Britain, but also the native Scots 
of Ireland themselves, who were equally concerned in most of these 
expeditions ; and who, however contemptuously, as we have seen, 
Gildas has affected to speak of their currachs, had already fitted out 
two naval armaments sufficiently notorious to be commemorated by 
the great poet of Rome's latter days. The share taken by the Irish, 
in these irruptions into Britain, is noticed frequently both by Gildas 
and Bede : — " They emerge eagerly," says the former, " from their 
currachs, in which they have been wafted across the Scytic Valley," 
— the name anciently given to the sea between Britain and Ireland. 
"The impudent Irish plunderers," says Bede, "return to their 
homes, only to come back again shortly."* 

"Of the three great 'Devastations' of Britain, recorded by the 
former of these writers, two had occurred in the reign of the mon- 
arch Leogaire, who ruled over Ireland at the time of St. Patrick's 
mission. How far this prince w^as concerned in originating, or 
taking a personal share in any of these expeditions, does not appear 
from the records of his long reign ; and, among the domestic tran- 
sactions in which he was engaged, his war upon the Lagenians, or 
people of Leinster, to enforce the payment of the odious Boromean 
tribute, seems alone to be worthy of any notice. Defeated by the 
troops of this province in a sanguinary action, which Avas called, 
from the place where it occurred, the Battle of the Ford of the 
Oaks, Leogaire was himself made prisoner, and regained his freedom 
only on consenting to swear, by the Sun and the Wind, that he 
never would again lay claim to the payment of the tribute. This 
solemn oath, however, the rapacious monarch did not hesitate to 
infringe, — his courtly Druids having conveniently absolved him from 
the obligation ; and, on his death occurring a short time after, it 
was said that, to punish his false appeal to their divinities, the Sun 
and the Wind had destroyed him.t This Pagan oath, and his con- 
tinued commerce with the Druids, to the very year before he died, 
shows that Leogaire had either at no time become a Christian, or 
else had relapsed into Paganism. | 

* Revertuntur ergo impudentes grassatores Hiberni domus, post non longum 
tempus reversuri. 

t Thus recorded in the annals of the Four Masters: — "A. D. 457, anno 29. 
regni Laogarii fiUi Nialli Praelium Vadi Quercuum gestum a Lageniensibus contra 
Laogarium filium Nialli. Captus est Laogarius in, praelio isto, et juravit jusjuran- 
dum Solis et Venti, et Elementorum, Lageniensibus, non venturum se contra eos, 
durante vita, ob intentum istum. 

"A. D. 458, postquam fuisset 30 annis in Regimine Hibernise Laogarius filius 
Nialli Novi-obsidum, occisus est prope Cassiam inter Erin et Albaniam (i. e. duos 
colles qui sunt in regione Faolan,) et Sol et Ventus occiderunt euin quia temera- 
vit eos." 

t The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick states that Leogaire was not a sincere 
believer, and that he was accustomed to say his father Nial had laid an injunction 
40 



314 

" The fervid eagerness and rapidity with which the new faith had 
been embraced wore so much the appearance of that sort of enthu- 
siasm which mere novelty often excites, that it would have seemed 
but in the natural course of affairs had there succeeded a lull to all 
this excitement, and had such a burst of religious zeal, throughout 
the great mass of the people, — deprived entirely, as it was, of the 
fuel which persecution always ministers, — subsided speedily into 
that state of languor, if not of dangerous indifference, in which the 
uncontested triumph of human desires almost invariablj' ends. But 
in this, as in all other respects, the course of the change now worked 
in the minds of the people of Ireland was peculiar and unprece- 
dented ; and, striking as were their zeal and promptitude in adopting 
the new faith, the steady fervour with which they now devoted 
themselves to its doctrines and discipline was even still more remark- 
able. From this period, indeed, the drama of Irish history begins 
to assume an entirely different character. Instead of the furious 
strife of kings and chieftains forming, as before, its main action and 
interest, this stormy spectacle gives way to the pure and peaceful 
triumphs of religion. Illustrious saints, of both sexes, pass in review 
before our eyes ; — the cowl and the veil eclipse the glory even of the 
regal crown ; and, instead of the grand and festive halls of Tara and 
Emania, the lonely cell of the fasting penitent becomes the scene of 
fame. 

"It is to be recollected, however, that, through all this picture, 
the hands of ecclesiastics have chiefly guided the pencil ; and, though 
there can be no doubt that the change effected in the minds and 
hearts of the people, was, to a great extent, as real as it is wonder- 
ful, it was yet by no means either so deep or so general as on the 
face of these monkish annals it appears. While this peaceful 
pageant of saints and apostles so prominently occupies the fore- 
ground, frequent glimpses of scenes of blood are caught dimly in 
the distance, and the constant appeal to the sword, and the frequent 
falling of kings suddenly from their thrones, prove the ancient polit- 
ical habits of the people to have experienced but little change. In 
the page of the annalist, however, all this is kept subordinate or 
thrown into the shade ; and while, for two or three centuries after 
the introduction of Christianity, the history of the Kings of Ireland 
presents but a meagre list of names, the acts of her missionaries and 
her saints, and the pious labours of her scholars, afford materials 
for detail as abundant and minute as they are, in many instances, 
it must be owned, sterile and uninteresting. 

" The only event of high political importance, which occurs through 
the whole of this period, took place at the commencement of the 
sixth century, not long after the death of St. Patrick; and this was 
the establishment, under the sons of Erck, of that Scotic or Irish 
monarchy in North Britain, which not only extended its sway, in 
the course of a few centuries, over the whole of the modern Scot- 
land, but transmitted, through the race of the Stuarts, a long suc- 
cession of monarchs to Great Britain. The colony planted in those 

on him never to embrace the Christian faith, but to adhere to the gods of his 
ancestors. See Lanigan, chap. 5, note 53. 



315 

regions, by Carbre Rieda, in the middle of the third century, though 
constantly fed with supplies from the parent stock, the Dalriadians 
of Antrim, had run frequent risks of extirpation from the superior 
power of their neighbours and rivals, the Picts. In the year 503, 
however, the Dalriadian princes of Ireland, aided by the then 
all-po,werful influence of the Hy-Nial family, were enabled to trans- 
plant a new colony into North Britain, which; extending the limits 
of the former settlement, set up for the first time a regal authority, 
and became, in less than a century, sufficiently powerful to shake 
oiFall dependence upon Ireland.* The territory possessed by these 
original Scots appears to have included, in addition to the Western 
Isles, the whole of the mountainous district now called Argyleshire ; 
and from the time of the erection of this Irish sovereignty. North 
Britain continued, for some centuries, to be divided between two 
distinct monarchies, the Scotish and the Pictlsh ; till, at length, in 
the reign of Keneth Mac-Alpine, after a long and fierce struggle, 
the people of the Picts were entirely vanquished, and the Scots left 
sole masters of the country. 

"The memorable migration of the sons of Erck, is marked by the 
Irish annalists as having occurred twenty years after the great battle 
of Ociia, in which Olill Molt, the successor of Leogaire in the 
monarchy of Ireland, was slain. This battle itself, too, constituted 
an era in Irish history, as the race of the Nials, on whose side 
victory then declared, were, by the fortune of that day's combat, 
rendered masters of all Ireland. The law established in the reign 
of Tuathal confining the succession to his own family, and excluding 
the princes of the other lines from the monarchy, was now wholly 
set aside ; and the Hy-Nials, taking possession of the supreme 
government, held it uninterruptedly through a course of more than 
five hundred years. 

"Of the two kings who succeeded Olill Molt, namely, Lugad and 
Murcertach, the reign of one extended to twenty-five years, and that 
of the other to twenty-one ; and yet of the former reign all that we 
find recorded is the names of some battles which signalized its course ; 
while of the grandson of Erck, nothing further is commemorated 
than that, in A. D. 534, he fought five battles, and, in the following 
year, was drowned in a hogshead of wine.t It is, however, but just 
to add, that he is represented as a good and pious sovereign, and 

* The facts of the history of this colony have been thus well summed up by Roy 
(Military Antiq.) :— 

" There is incontrovertible authority to join the Irish with the Picts in their 
martial exploits against the Romans, as well from the Latin, as from the ancient 
British and Saxon, writers. It is clear, not only from all the Scotch history we 
have of the times, but from Bede, from the most authentic writers for an age or 
two before and after him, and from the Roman writers, that Scotland, during the 
Roman domination in Britain, subsisted under two different monarchies, Irish and 
Pictish." I have given this passage as I find it cited by Dr. O'Connor, having 
searched in vain for it in the folio edition of Roy's works, 1793. 

t This royal event, as appears by the fragments on the subject remaining, was 
commemorated by many of the poets of that period. — See the Annals of the Four 
Masters, ad ann. 534. It is supposed, from the mention in most of the Lives of 
St. Columbanus, of the circumstance of an Irish ship trading to Nantes, in the 
sixth century, that wine was imported into Ireland from that city. 



316 

was the first of the Irish nionarchs who can, with any degree of 
certainty, be pronounced Christian. 

"At the commencement of the sixth century, Christianity had 
become almost universal throughout Ireland ; and before its close 
her church could boast of a considerable number of holy persons, 
whose fame for sanctity and learning has not been confined to their 
own country, but is still cherished and held in reverence by the great 
majority of the Christian world. Among these ornaments of a period 
whose general want of intellectual illumination rendered its few 
shining lights the more conspicuous, stands pre-eminently the Apostle 
of the Western Isles, Columb-Kille, who was born in the reign of 
Murcertach, about the year 521, and who, from the great activity 
and variety of his spiritual enterprises, was so mixed up with the 
public transactions of his times, that an account of his life and acts 
would be found to include within its range all that is most remarka- 
ble in the contemporary history of his country. 

" In citing for historical purposes the Lives of Saints, of whatever 
age or country, considerable caution ought, of course, to be observed. 
But there are writers, and those not among the highest, who, in the 
pride of fancied wisdom, affect a contempt for this species of evi- 
dence, which is, to say the least of it, shallow. Both Montesquieu 
and Gibbon* knew far better how to appreciate the true value of 
such works, as sources of historical information ; being well aware 
that, in times when personages renowned for sanctity held such 
influence over all ranks and classes, and were even controllers of 
the thoughts and actions of kings, it is often in the private lives of 
these spiritual heroes alone that the true moving springs of the 
history of their age is to be sought. 

" Previously to entering, however, on any personal details respec- 
ting either Columba or any other of those distinguished Irishmen 
whose zeal contributed so much at this period, not merely in their 
own country, but throughout all the British Isles, to the general 
diff"usion of Christianity, it may not be irrelevant to inquire briefly 
into the peculiar nature of the doctrines which these spiritual suc- 
cessors of our great apostle taught. An attempt has been made, 
enforced by the learning of the admirable Usher, to prove that the 

* " The ancient legendaries," says Gibbon, " deserve some regard, as they are 
obliged to connect their fables with the real history of their own times." Mon- 
tesquieu acknowledges still more strongly the use to be derived from such works : — 

" Quoiqu'on puisse reprocher aux auteurs de ces Vies d'avoir ete qiielquefois un 
peu trop credules sur des choses que Dieu a certainement faites, si elles ont ete 
dans I'ordre de ses desseins, on ne laisse pas d'en tirer de grandes lumieres sur les 
moeurs et les usages de ces temps-la." — Liv. xxx. chap. 2. 

Sir James Mackintosh follows eloquently in the same tract : — 

" The vast collections of the Lives of Saints often throws light on public events, 
and opens glimpses into the habits of men in those times ; nor are they wanting in 

sources of interest, though poetical and moral rather than historical The 

whole force of this noble attempt to exalt human nature was at this period spent 
on the Lives of the Saints, — a sort of moral heroes or demigods, without some 
acquaintance with whom it is hard to comprehend an age when the commemora- 
tion of the virtues then most venerated, as Ihcy were enibodied in these holy men, 
was the principal theme of the genius of Christendom." — Vol. i. chap 2. 

See, on the same subject, the remarks of the Benedictines (Hist. Literaire de la 
France.) in speaking of the writers of the seventh century. 



317 

church founded by St. Patrick in Ireland held itself independent of 
Rome, and; on most of the leading points of Christian doctrine, 
professed the opinions maintained at present by Protestants. But 
rarely, even in the warfare of religious controversy, has there been 
hazarded an assertion so little grounded upon fact. In addition to 
the original link formed with Rome, from her having appointed the 
first Irish missionaries, we find in a canon of one of the earliest 
Synods held in Ireland a clear acknowledgment of the supremacy 
of the Roman see. Nor was this recognition confined merely to 
words; as, on the very first serious occasion of controversy which 
presented itself, — the dispute relative to the time of celebrating 
Easter, — it was resolved, conformably to the words of this canon, 
that " the question should be referred to the Head of Cities," and, 
a deputation being accordingly despatched to Rome for the purpose, 
the Roman practice, on this point, was ascertained and adopted. 

"Respecting the nature of the religious doctrines and observances 
taught by the earliest Christian preachers in Ireland, we have, both 
in the accounts of their devotional practices and in their writings, 
the most satisfactory as well as ample information. That they 
celebrated mass under the ancient traditional names of the Holy 
Mysteries of the Eucharist, the Sacrifice of Salvation,* the Immola- 
tion of the Host, is admitted by Usher himself. But he might have 
found language even still stronger employed by them to express the 
mystery their faith acknowledged in that rite.t The ancient prac- 
tice of offering up prayers for the dead,| and the belief of a middle 
state of existence, after this life, upon which that practice is founded, 
formed also parts of their creed ;§ though of the locality of the 

* The phrase used by St. Chrysostom, in speaking of the progress of the faith 
in the British Isles, imphes in itself that the belief held in those regions respectino- 
the Eucharist was the very same which he himself enforced in his writings, and 
which the CathoUc church maintains to the present day. " They have erected 
churches (says the saint,) and Altars of Sacrifice." 

t Following the belief of the ancient Christian church, as to a Real Presence in 
the sacrament, they adopted the language also by which this mystery was express- 
ed ; and the phrase of " making the body of Christ," which occurs so frequently in 
the Liturgies of the primitive Church, is found likewise in the writings of the first 
Irish Christians. Thus Adarnnan, in his Life of St. Columba, tells of that Saint 
ordering the bishop, Cronan, " Christi corpus ex more conficere." Lib. i. c. 44. 
In later Irish writers, numerous passages to the same purport may be found ; but, 
confining myself to those only of the earlier period, I shall add but the following 
strong testimony from Sedulius : — 

Corpus, sanguis, aqua, tria vitae numera nostras : 
Fonte renascentes, membris et sanguine Christi 
Vescimur, atque ideo templum Deitatis haberaurj 
Quod servare Deus nos annuat immaculatum, 
Et faciat tenues tanto Mansore capaces. 

Carmen Paschale, lib. iv. 
X Oblationes pro defunctis annua die facimus. — Tertull. 

§ It is acknowledged by Usher that Requiem masses were among the religious 
practices of the Irish Christians in those days ; but he denies that they were any- 
thing more than " an honourable commemoration of the dead, and a sacrifice of 
thanksgiving for their salvation." It has been shown clearly, however, that these 
masses were meant to be also, in the strongest sense of the word, propitiatory. In 
an old Irish missal, found at Robbio, of which an account has been given in the 
Rer. Hibern. Script. (Ep. Nunc, cxxxviii.,) there is contained a mass for the dead, 
entitled " Pro Defunctis," in which the following prayer, and others no less Ca- 



318 

purgatorial fire their notions were, like those of the ancient Fathers, 
vague and undefined. In an old Life of St. Brendan, who lived in 
the sixth century, it is stated, "the prayer of the living doth much 
profit the dead;" and, among the canons of a very early Irish 
Synod, there is one entitled "Of the Oblation for the dead." Of 
the frequent practice, indeed, of prayer and almsgiving for the relief 
of departed souls, there are to be found throughout the records of 
those times abundant proofs. In a tract attributed to Cummian, 
who lived in the seventh century, and of whose talents and learning 
we shall hereafter have occasion to speak, propitiatory masses for 
the dead are mentioned. The habit of invoking and praying to 
saints was, it is evident, general among the ancient Irish Christians; 
and a Life of St. Brigid, written, according to Ware, in the seventh 
century, concludes with the following words: — "There are two 
holy virgins in heaven who may undertake my protection, Mary and 
St. Brigid, on whose patronage let each of us depend."* 

" The penitential discipline established in their monasteries was 
of the most severe description. The weekly fast-days observed by the 
whole Irish church were, according to the practice of the primitive 
times, Wednesdays and Fridays : and the abstinence of the monks, 
and of the more pious among the laity, was carried to an extreme 
unknown in later days. The benefit of pilgrimages also was incul- 
cated ; and we find mention occasionally, in the Annals, of princes 
dying in pilgrimage.t The practice of auricular confession, and 
their belief in the power of the priest to absolve from sin, is proved 
by the old penitential canons, and by innumerable passages in the 
Lives of their Saints.:|: 

" The only point, indeed, either of doctrine or discipline, — and 
under this latter head alone the exception falls, — in which the least 
difference, of any moment, can be detected between the religion 
professed by the first Irish Christians and that of the Catholics of 
the present day, is with respect to the marriage of the clergy, which, 
as appears from the same sources of evidence that have furnished all 
the foregoing proofs, was, though certainly not approved of, yet per- 
mitted and practised. Besides a number of incidental proofs of this 
fact, the sixth Canon of the Synod attributed to St. Patrick enjoins 

tholic, are to be found : — " Concede propitius, ut hsec sacra oblatio mortuis prosit 
ad veniam, et vivis proficiat ad salutem." 

* See Lanigan, Ecclesiast. Hist. vol. iii. chap. 20. note 107. 

■I See Tigernach, A. D. 610, and also 723. In the Annals of the Four Masters, 
A. D. 777, the pilgrimage of a son of the king of Connaught to the Isle of Hyona 
is recorded. 

t On this point Usher acknowledges that " they did (no doubt) both publicly 
and privately make confession of their faults," (chap. 5.) and adds, in proof of this 
fact, what follows : — "One old penitential canon we find' laid down in a synod 
held in this country, about the year of our Lord 450, by St. Patrick, Auxilius, and 
Isserninus, which is as followeth : — ' A Christian who hath killed a man, or com- 
initted fornication, or gone unto a soothsayer, after the manner of the Gentiles, 
for every one of those crimes shall do a year of penance ; when his year of penance 
is accomplished, he shall come with witnesses, and afterward he shall be absolved 
by the priest.' " Usher contends, however, for their having in so far differed from 
the belief of the present Catholics, that they did not attribute to the priest any 
more than a ministerial power in the remission of sins. 



319 

that " the clerk's wife shall not walk out without having her head 
veiled."* 

" The evidence which Usher has adduced to prove, that commu- 
nion in both kinds was permitted to the laity among the Irish, is by- 
no means conclusive or satisfactory ;t — though it would certainly 
appear, from one of the Canons of the Penitential of St. Columba- 
nus,| that, before the introduction of his rule, novices had been 
admitted to the cup. It is to be remembered, however, that any 
difference of practice, in this respect, has been always considered 
as a mere point of discipline, and accordingly subject to such altera- 
tion as the change of time and circumstances may require." 



CHAPTER XLV. 



Accession of Olioll to the throne. — His reign and death, Jl. D. 478. Lughha, the 
son of Laoghaire, a former monarch, succeeds to the crown. — His reign and death. 

Prince Olioll, the son of the monarch Dathy, who commanded 
the expedition destined to reinforce Laoghaire, on landing in Cale- 
donia, was proclaimed king by the army. To obtain the sanction 
of the national estates to his assumption of the regal authority, he 
resolved to evacuate the strong holds which he had on the frontiers 
of Britain, and to transport the principal part of his army to Ireland, 
to support his claims to the crown. As soon as the convention of 
the national estates heard of his arrival in Ulster, with a potent 
army, they elected him monarch of Ireland, and sent a deputation 
of noiales as far as Dundalk, in the county of Louth, to meet and 
congratulate him on his accession to the throne of his ancestors. 
From Dundalk, we are told by Molloy, he proceeded to the abbey 
of St. Mary's, in the town of Louth, § where St. Mocte, a disciple of 

* If the term clerk here be understood to comprise all the members of the cleri- 
cal orders, the permission to marry extended also, of course, to priests; but it is 
thought by some that the words of the canon apply only to the inferior ranks of 
the clergy. " With respect to our English church (says Dr. Milner,) at the end 
of the sixth century, we gather from St. Gregory's permission for the clerks in 
minor orders to take wives, that this was unlawful for the clergy in holy orders^ 
namely, for bishops, priests, and deacons, agreeably to a well-known rule of rea- 
soning, ' Exceptio confirmat regulam;' and we are justified in inferring the same 
with respect to the Irish clergy in St. Patrick's time." — Inquiry into certain vulgar 
opinions, 8fC. 8fC. Letter 14. 

t He founds his conclusion chiefly on their use of such phrases as " the commu- 
nion of the Lord's body and blood ;" whereas the Catholics of the present day, 
among whom the laity receive the sacrament under one kind only, use the very 
same language. 

X Columban. in Pcenitent., as I find it thus cited by Ceillier : — " Novi quia 
indocti et quicunque tales fuerint, ad calicem non accedant." 

§ Louth, from which the county of Louth derives its name, situated about five 
miles north-west of Dundalk, could once boast of seven churches, four abbeys, 
and three feudal castles, all now piles of ruins. In the abbey of St. Mary are the 
mouldering remains of several tombs, in which many of the primates of Ireland 



320 

St. Patrick, and founder of that monastery, inaugurated him king, 
according to the rites of the Christian dispensation. This was the 
first of our monarchs, who was crowned by the hands of a Christian 
prelate. From Louth he set out for Tara, where he was received 
by the provincial princes and national estates with every demon- 
stration of loyalty and respect. This monarch married Uchdealb, 
the daughter of Angus, king of Munster; an alliance that strength- 
ened his power, and enabled him to exact the Leinster tribute three 
times without being forced to have recourse to arms. The king of 
Connaught, Amalgaid, was also his relation and ally, so that sub- 
mission was the wisest policy which the king of Leinster could have, 
adopted under such circumstances. Amalgaid was a distinguished 
warrior, " who was," says O'Flaherty, " victorious in nine sea fights 
and many land engagements." 

This monarch, who loved the blessings of peace, and is repre- 
sented by our annalists as more ambitious of rendering his people 
happy than of distinguishing himself by military fame, assiduously 
applied all his thoughts to the internal policy of the kingdom. His 
spirit gave life and animation to the operations of commerce and 
agriculture. He caused the laws to be revised, so as to aiford a 
wider scope to the freedom of his people. Literature and the arts, 
also, flourished under his cheering auspices. At the suggestion of 
the monarch, the national estates passed a law for encouraging 
trade and the mechanical arts. A commission, consisting of sixty 
intelligent men, well experienced in science, commerce, and the 
mechanical arts, was appointed to visit the chief towns and maritime 
ports, for the purpose of reporting, from an accurate survey, the 
state of commerce, mechanics, and the arts, and to suggest plans 
for their progressive improvement. 

But, though the encouragement of the arts of peace, the amelio- 
ration of the condition of the middle classes of the people, and the 
general spread of national prosperity, were the primary objects to 
which he directed his active attention, he did not forget that to pre- 
serve this internal happiness, it was necessary to watch the enemies 
of his kingdom abroad, and to guard against external danger. 
Accordingly, we are informed, that he kept up a considerable body 
of troops in Caledonia, and on the frontiers of Bi'itain, to assist his 
Dalriadian allies, and to oppose the designs of the Saxons and their 

were interred. The abbott of St. Mary's was a peer of parliament, and bore, for 
centuries, the title of Bishop of Louth. He had episcopal authority over the sees 
of Clogher and Louth, and the right of presentation to the rectories of Dundalk, 
Ardee, Louth, Drumisken, Kilsaren, Dunleer, Drumcar, Clonkeen, Stickillen, 
Churchtown, Haggardstown, Tallanstown, and Smarmore. But the abbott of 
Louth was deprived of these rights by Edward IL, in 1316; in consequence of his 
having crowned Edward Bruce king of Ireland, in the church of Dundalk. In 
addition to the abbey founded by St. Mocte, the first bishop of Louth, a magnifi- 
cent priory was erected by Donough O'Carroll, prince of Urial, in 1148, and 
another by Edan O'Kelly, in 1150. These abbeys were munificently endowed. 
Henry VIH., on the suppression of the monasteries, made a grant of the estates 
of the religious houses of Louth to Sir Oliver Plunkett, the first baron of Louth. 
Louth is gradually decaying, though it stands in the midst of as fertile a district 
of country as any in Ireland. The greater part of the town belongs to the present 
Lord Louth. 



321 

British dependents. Every act of the reign of this patriotic monarch 
was dictated by the soundest principles of prudence and policy; but, 
notwithstanding the wisdom and justice which appeared in all the 
measures of his administration, he had to contend with internal 
discords and party divisions, and he found that the tranquil and 
peaceable reign which he had hitherto enjoyed was not solely owing 
to the popularity of his impartial government, but that he was partly 
indebted for it to his alliance and connection with the kings of 
Munster and Connaught. At this epoch of his reign, 476, the death 
of his father-in-law convinced him that though wisdom may be the 
means of securing power, yet still, that wisdom without power 
cannot insure or command obedience. 

As soon as the Lagenians were made acquainted with the death 
of Angus, they began to manifest a disposition of resistance, and to 
speak of the imposts exacted from them as despotic and grievous. 
They now boldly assumed an attitude of independence and defiance. 
The tribute which they had already paid the monarch several times 
was now peremptorily refused ; and several severe engagements, 
fought with various success, was the result of their praiseworthy 
resistance to despotic aggression. Olioll, however, sometimes suc- 
ceeded in exacting by force what he could not acquire by authority. 
He was yet but successful at times in his hostile attacks on Leiuster; 
and, while he was thus weakening and frittering away his power in 
an unprofitable predatory warfare, he was encouraging a more 
dangerous enemy, to dispute with him the sovereignty of the entire 
kingdom. 

Lugha, the son of Laoghaire, and grandson of the famous Nial, 
being disqualified by his age to become a candidate for the kingdom, 
on the death of his father, had scarcely passed his minority, when 
he began to indulge hopes of attaining to the monarchy. This young 
prince was highly educated, and he possessed a genius that served 
to impai-t an impulse to his daring ambition. His polished manners 
and winning address gained for him great popularity amongst the 
princes and nobles of the kingdom. When he had organized his 
plans, and after having gained the alliance of several Irish princes, 
particularly of Murtough O'Niel, and of the king of Leinster, whose 
daughter he had married, he sent, agreeably to the custom of all 
pretenders to the Irish crown, his ambassador to the monarch, to 
demand a formal resignation of the throne, or otherwise to give a 
challenge to meet him in the field of battle, and to decide their 
respective claims by the sword. 

The monarch, equal to his rival in bravery, appointed a day and 
place of action ; and having summoned all his friends and tributa- 
ries, the hostile armies met, in pursuance of agreement, on the plains 
of Ocha, in the county of Carlow, where the sanguinary conflict was 
disputed with such resolution on both sides, that victory remained 
for a long while doubtful. The valiant Olioll, perceiving, at length, 
that the fortune of the day inclined to his adversary, rushed, with 
heroic courage, into the midst of the engagement, at the head of his 
personal guards, determined to decide the contest by his own death, 
or by that of his rival. The royal combatants met, like enraged 
41 



322 

lions, and the valiant Olioll, in the gigantic struggle, fell by the 
hand of his more fortunate antagonist. This battle, wliich termi- 
nated the life of Olioll in the nineteenth year of his reign, was fought 
in May A. D. 478. 

The pacific administration of Olioll was the source of national 
prosperity and happiness, because it was based on justice, equitable 
rights, and legislative wisdom. His attempts to levy the Leinster 
tribute are the only acts of his reign that approached despotism. 
The victor, Lugha, was proclaimed king on the field of battle, and 
immediately after crowned with great solemnity at Tara. He com- 
menced his reign by rewarding the generals and chieftains who 
aided him in obtaining the decisive victory which paved his way to 
the throne. The territories of Delvin Rugad, in the county of Ros- 
common — Delvin Culfabhar, and Delvin Teadha, in the county of 
Galvvay, were bestowed on the sons of Lugha. Our annalists tell 
us that several sanguinary engagements were fought during this 
reign, but the name of the battle fields, or of the heroes who figured 
in them, has been withheld from us. We are, therefore, left totally 
in the dark, with regard to the causes which produced the state of 
warfare, that raged at that epoch in Ireland. We may however 
impute it, we think, with some justice to the discords and restless 
ambition that agitated our chieftains in those days of savage valour 
and ungovernable pride. 

The Leinster tribute that kept the flames of civil hostility ever 
glowing, and Lugha, like his predecessors, laid claim to that odious 
impost, and invaded Leinster to extort the payment of it; but he 
was defeated and routed by the Lagenians, at the battle of Kille 
Osnoch, in the county of Carlow. Murtough O'Niel invaded Con- 
naught about this era, 483, and spread ruin and misery through the 
whole province. It is strange that no Irish historian has furnished 
us with the particulars of these desultory conflicts. O'Flaherty, 
indeed, informs us, that in a battle on the borders of Lough Corrib, 
in the county of Galvvay, in which the Connacians were defeated, 
and that three sons of the king of Connaught, whose names were 
Eugene, Olioll, and Duach, fell under the swords of the Ultonians. 

From the chasms left unfilled by our annalists in their narrative 
of the occurrences of those days, it would seem that the civil history 
of this epoch was compiled from tradition. The great events that 
had taken place, and the battles which had been fought, could not 
be forgotten in the course of one or two centuries; while the causes 
in which they originated might soon escape recollection, having 
nothing of that marvellous quality which alone could fix them on 
the public attention. Accordingly, where causes have been assigned, 
there is room, in some cases, to suspect their authenticity. The 
deaths of Dathy and Laoghaire, two successive inonarchs, have been 
attributed to lightning, and the death of Lugha, the next king in 
succession but one, has been imputed to the same cause. A person 
must have much historic faith to believe, that three nearly successive 
princes should fall victims to the same element. Their deaths, it is 
true, have been accounted for by Christian writers as the conse- 
quence of their impiety. But we do not remember an instance in 



323 

the sacred writings, where lightning has been made the instrument 
of God's wrath. The probabihty is, that some Christian antiquarian, 
moved by a pious zeal for the cause of religion, but not reflecting, 
that no cause, however sacred, should be promoted at the expense 
of truth, had recourse to these sanctimonious stratagems and delu- 
sions to annex tlie idea of punishment, even in this life, to the pur- 
suits of vice and immorality. 

It was at this juncture that the Picts revolted from the sovereign 
authority of the Dalriad colony, and succeeded in driving the Irish 
and their descendants into the mountains. Reduced to this exigen- 
cy, their princes Angus, Fergus, and Lorn, sent ambassadors to the 
Irish monarch, Lugha, to solicit his aid and protection. 

The appeal was no sooner urged than complied with. The 
monarch in person led the expedition to the shores of Caledonia, 
A. D. 508, where he soon reduced the Picts to servile obedience. 
But as he was preparing to return to his kingdom he was killed by 
a thunder-bolt, in the thirtieth year of his reign. 

" His death," says Dr. Warner, "is said to have been from the 
vengeance of heaven, in consequence of his having opposed the 
preaching of St. Patrick, and otherwise endeavoured to stop the 
dissemination of Christianity in Ireland." Lugha's character, like 
that of many of his predecessors, was a compound of vice and virtue. 
He was ambitious and valiant, and always desirous of acquiring 
military fame at the expense of justice and freedom. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 



The accession of Murtovgh to the throne. — His reign and death. — Dr. Ledwich's 
objections noticed. — Tuathal re-elected Monarch. — He reduces the Picts to complete 
subjection. — His reign and death. 

As soon as the news of the death of Lugha, in the manner detailed 
in the last chapter, arrived in Ireland, the national estates assembled 
for the purpose of electing a successor to the crown. Their choice 
fell on Murtovgh, the son of Muireadhach, who was the grandson of 
Nial of the nine hostages. This prince acquired great eminence by 
his exploits in the campaigns against the Caledonian Picts* during 
the two preceding reigns. 

* '" Even .the name of Scotland, and of her great families, the Campbels, the 
McAllens, McDonnells, Loons, and other clans, prove, if proof vvere wanted, that 
the Scotch were of Irish origin." — Nicholson. 

" The Albanians were called Picts by the Irish invaders, because they generally 
painted their bodies." — Bede. 

" It is to Ireland that Scotland is indebted for the name of Caledonia, which 
appellation was bestowed upon her by Carbre, the prince of the Dalriada, in com- 
pliment to his chief General Cathluan ; for Cathluan is with us pronounced Caluan, 
and Don is used to denote the posterity of some eminent personage. Thus Cale- 
donia implies in Irish the descendants of Caleran." — M'Dermott. 



324 

His election gave great satisfaction to the nation. Our annalists 
concur in asserting that this monarch ascended the throne A. D. 
503. His queen was Sabina, a Connacian princess, whose piety and 
amiable virtues are greatly eulogized by our historians, who rank 
her among the Irish saints. We know but little of the events of 
Murtough's reign. The transactions of this epoch are almost passed 
over in silence by our antiquarians, which is rather strange, as they 
tell us that he fought seventeen battles, yet without saying a word 
of their causes or informing us who were the opponents of the mon- 
arch. Dr. O'Halloran, indeed, accounts for the neglect evinced by 
our annalists in recording the occurrences of Lugha's reign, by 
supposing that king to have apostatized ; but the present monarch 
is allowed by that historian himself, not only to have lived and died 
in the Christian faith, but even to be exemplary for his piety. Why 
then the same unaccountable neglect, unless we attribute it to the 
cause which we have already assigned ? 

O'Flaherty acquaints us that five of the seventeen engagements 
in which this monarch commanded were fought in one year ; but we 
are at a loss to know whether he was either victorious or vanquished 
in any of them. 

Dr. Keating has given us the names of the scenes of these battles ; 
but he could furnish no other particulars. 

The troops of Murtough occupied all the strong holds in Caledo- 
nia at this period, in order to overawe the Picts, and protect the 
Irish colony, the Dalriada. 

Shortly after his accession, by the advice of the nati9nal estates, 
he created his cousin Fergus, King of the Albanian Scots, and com- 
pelled the Picts to swear allegiance to him. 

We are assured by all our creditable historians that he sent the 
famous LiagJi Fail, or stone of destiny, to Scotland, either to add 
greater solemnity to the coronation of Fergus, or to prevent the 
seeds of disaffection and rebellion from prevailing among his sub- 
jects, who were composed of Irish, Picts, Albanians, and Britons, 
by impressing them with a strong conviction of the stability of his 
throne ; as they gave full credit to the prediction that wherever the 
stone of destiny remained, a Milesian prince should reign over the 
country which had it in possession. 

We have already given a comprehensive account of the stone of 
destiny, and of the miraculous power attributed to it, in the begin- 
ning of this history, so that it would be inexcusable tautology to 
introduce another narrative of that subject here. 

The successors of the Irish prince, Fergus, bold and enterprising 
heroes, extended from time to time the frontiers of their kingdom, 
so that Kenneth, the son of Alpin, in the ninth century, totally 
destroyed the Pictish monarchy, and assumed, by the consent of 
the Irish monarch, Nial III. the title of King of Scotia Minor.* 

* Vide Laing, Pinckerton, and Fordun. 

" Nial only sanctioned this assumption of an independent sovereign by his rela- 
tive, in a country which Avas his colony on condition that the kings of Scotia 
Minor should always pay tribute and do homage to the monarchs of Ireland." — 

O'SULLIVAN. 

" The Albanian Picts were never known by the name of Scots until after Nial 



325 

In the reign of Murtough architecture and sculpture were carried 
to the highest pitch of perfection. The palaces and abbeys erected 
at this time were superbly decorated in the enrichments of the sister 
arts. At this juncture too, poetry, classical learning, astronomy, 
and mathematics were assiduously cultivated by the people of Ireland. 
There is still extant an Irish poem, written by Terna Eiges, in the 
reign of Nial the Great, in which there is a spirited description given 
of the marble busts of the Irish monarchs, which filled the niches of 
the royal sepulchre of Cruachan, in the county of Roscommon. 
We can adduce another testimony of our exquisite skill in the art of 
sculpture and architecture, in Cogitosus's biography of St. Bridget, 
who bears honourable evidence to the beauty, magnificence, and 
magnitude of the monuments of that saint as well as of her contem- 
porary, St. Conlaith. He says, "these tombs, which I saw with 
rny own eyes, were exquisitely finished, and adorned with gold, 
silver, and precious stones, with crowns of gold and silver suspended 
over them ; and the church of Kildare was hung with many paint- 
ings representing the sufferings of Christ." 

Dr. Ledwich, who, in his vile spirit of national apostacy, sooner 
than acknowledge the use of sculpture and painting in Ireland, 
laboured with his usual assiduity to prove Cogitosus, like St. Patrick, 
an imaginary being, merely because he described, in his book, the 
ornaments and paintings which he saw with his own eyes in the 
church of Rildare. 

He has written pages in endeavouring to prop up the venal false- 
hoods of Hume respecting Ireland. "I have examined several 
authorities," says he, "but could find no evidence supplied by anti- 
quity, that the Irish had domestic edifices or religions structures of 
lime and stone, antecedent to the invasion of the Danes, in the ninth 
century. Tacitas proves that the Germans were not acquainted 
with the composition of mortar in his time. The life of the ancient 
Irish, like that of the Germans, was truly pastoral, a state of society 
where no one expects to find durable structures. Whatever change 
Christianity operated on the religious sentiments of the Irish, it 

the Great gave the modern Scotland the name of Scotia Minor in the fifth age." — 
Hutchinson' s Defence. 

The Picts and the Irish, whom Eumenes the rhetorician, towards the end of the 
third century, in iiis panegyric on Constance Csesar, calls the ordinary enemies of 
the Britons, are designated, by Ammianus and Claudian under the name of Scots 
and Picts, from which bishop Usher proves that Ireland must be taken for the true 
country of the Scots; in confirmation of which he quotes the verses of Claudian,. 
in which that poet represents the Scots as the inhabitants of the country which he 
calls Jerne. In the fifth age, we have the testimony of Paul of Orasius, who, in 
his description of Ireland says that it is inhabited by Scots ; a Scotorum gentibus 
coletur. 

But authorities are useless to establish historical facts. Scotland owes every 
thing to Ireland; but she is like Lear's daughter an ungrateful and unkind child. 
— M'Dermott. 

" So late even as the eleventh century, the Irish are not spoken of by any other 
name than Scots, by Herman, in the first tome of his chronicle, by Marianus Sco- 
tus, and by Florenlius Wigorniensis, in his annals, in which having inserted the 
chronicle of Marianus, he says, in the year 1028, ' This year Marianus was born, 
a Scot of Ireland, by whose cares this excellent chronicle was collected.' " — Lynch. 



326 

made no alteration in the political constitution of the country, and 
of course things remained in their ancient state as to the arts of 
civil life. The force of this analogical rcasonivg cannot be resisted, it 
must satisfy every rational inquirer.^^ 

The '■'•rational inquirer''^ who would he satisfied with these futile 
proofs, that there were no stone edifices in Ireland before the ninth 
century, must surely be an inquirer who is very easily satisfied, a 
credulous believer in the historical heresies of Dr. Ledwich ; one 
that asserts without reason and concludes without experience. In 
Dr. Ledwich's attempt to annihilate all the Druidical temples, round 
towers, abbeys, and raths of Ireland, he rendered himself as silly 
and ridiculous as Don Quixote did in his assault on the wind-mill. 
The raths, according to Vallancey, Raymond, and Harris, were 
raised many centuries before tlie Christian epoch, and we believe 
that there is not one to be found throughout Ireland in which there 
is not a mural cavity of stone and lime. But Dr. Ledwich spurned 
the dull and tedious mode which all other antiquarians and historians 
have felt it an imperative duty to adopt in their inquiries, namely, 
historical proofs, founded on facts, authenticated by the testimony 
of ancient writers. He was quite indifferent about his rash asser- 
tions; it mattered not to him that he had no authority in maintain- 
ing that there were no stone edifices in Ireland, before the ninth 
century. \Yith him it was quite sufficient to establish a theory that 
might upset, in the opinion of the credulous, all the evidences and 
proofs derived from history. "The Germans," says he, "had no 
structures of stone, — er^o, the Irish could have none." 

Surely the writer who has to contend with such authors as Dr. 
Ledwich, must possess the apathy of a stoic, or be strongly im- 
pressed with the necessity of good temper in argument, when he 
can reply with coolness to the stupid theories of a bigoted sophist. 
The hypothetical theories of the ancient philosophers have been long 
since exploded, because it was found that the solution of natural 
appearances is always doubtful when founded on hypothesis. 
When, therefore, hypothesis, which is so often the creature of the 
brain, was once rejected, and the philosopher betook himself to 
experiments and observations, the general powers and laws of nature, 
which remained in obscurity for so many ages, were soon collected ; 
but surely, hotvever absurd hypothesis may be in physics, it is a 
monster in history. 

Whenever the ancient historians affirmed an event to have taken 
place they quoted the authority of some other writer, unless they 
were themselves eye-witnesses. If they felt that a regard to truth, 
as deduced from appearances, imposed upon them the duty of deny- 
ing it, they unifi)rmly founded their negative conclusions on some 
concurring evidence : but they never argued like Dr. Ledwich, that 
if the ancient history of one country was involved in obscurity, that 
of another should be so likewise : they never maintained, on only a 
vantage ground of hypothesis, that if there were no stone edifices 
in one nation, there could be none in another. We see, then, how 
absurd and ridiculous it would be to make the assertion, even if 
there were no historical authority to prove the contrary, but where 



327 

such an absurdity is advanced in the very face of existing refutation 
— in the very teeth of authority, it is carrying, as Dr. Ledwich has 
done, bigotry to the last extreme of preposterous folly. 

Yet such is the infatuation of party spirit, that every hypothesis 
of Dr. Ledwich has found its advocates; and even the literary world 
was for some time deceived, not by the imposing lustre, or ingenious 
sophistry that characterized his antiquities, but by the plausible 
misrepresentations that supported and sustained the dogmatical and 
unhesitating confidence with which he asserted and enforced his 
barefaced errors. There is no doubt but that his airy system of 
imposition had its Irish proselytes; and the Scotch writers, ever 
willing to detract from the ancient renown of their mother country, 
exerted all their talents to give currency to the opinions of a man 
who was hired by the British to vilify our national character, and to 
depreciate the ancient fame which Ireland had acquired in arts and 
arms. That there were stone buildings in Ireland long before the 
Christian era, we have, in the course of this history, distinctly 
proved, not by hypothesis, but by the incontrovertible testimony of 
many ancient writers. The inquiring historian who examines the 
spirit and genius of the late Dr. Ledwich's writings, will soon per- 
ceive, that the inventive, nor the creative faculty was not that which 
he has chiefly cultivated. His great power seems to have consisted 
in anniliilation. Unable to create any thing of his own, he perpetu- 
ally laboured to destroy the creation of others. So devoted was 
that heartless apostate to such a pursuit, that he could not confine 
himself to the destruction of imaginary existence, no, for truth, 
nature, reality, and reason were equally the victims of his sweeping 
theories. 

In his book, improperly called the " Antiquities of Ireland,^'' he 
employed all his argumentative powers in the endeavour to impress 
the world with the opinion that Cogitosus was a fictitious personage, 
because, forsooth, he had expressed his admiration of the architective 
grandeur of Ireland, in the sixth century. But Cogitosus is not the 
only writer who has extolled the architective taste and skill that 
prevailed at that epoch in our country. Bede, St. Bernard, and 
Nennius record that the architects and masons of Ireland were so 
eminently proficient in their art that they were employed in building 
the cathedral of York, in the eighth century. 

Cambrensis too, who was hired by Henry II. to calumniate the 
character of the Irish nation, has reluctantly eulogized the paintings 
and sculpture with which our ancient artists enriched the cathedrals' 
of Cashel, Limerick, Cork, Kildare, Armagh and Down. 

In his Irish topography, written expressly by the orders of Henry 
II., that virulent defamer of Ireland says : — ^^ I saw in the church of 
Kildare some fine paintings of scriptural subjects, as well as marble 
busts, that are ingeniously fashioned. But the greatest wonder in iliis 
church is a concordance of the four gospels. The margin is ornamented 
with mystic pictures, most wonderfully and animatingly finished. The 
writing, but particularly the capital letters, so highly embellished, that 
neither the pencil of an Apelles, nor the chisel of a Lysippus ever formed 
the like. In a word, they seem to have been executed by something more 
than a mortal hand." 



328 

But let us resume our historical narrative. Murtough fell a victim 
to a barbarous conspiracy, which was formed against him in the 
twenty-fourth year of his reign. He was invited to an entertainment 
to the palace of a chieftain, at Mullacli-Cleatach (the hiil of hedges,) 
near the river Boyne, in Meath : and while he was yet at the ban- 
quet table, the relentless conspirators rushed out, fastened the doors 
to prevent the egress of the unhappy monarch, and set the house on 
fire. The names of the cruel conspirators who doomed the ill-fated 
Murtough to such a torturing death, are not given by any of our 
historians. 

The contemporary princes of Ireland, at this era, A. D. 527, were 
Fergus, king of Ulster, Cormoc, king of Leinster, Eocha, king of 
Connaught, and Aodh, king of Munster. Tuathal, the grandson of 
Carbre, the son of Nial the Great, was elected monarch by the 
national estates. Whether he was implicated in the horrid conspi- 
racy in which his predecessor was sacrificed, is a question that all 
our annalists have left unanswered. O'Flaherty informs us that the 
accession of this prince to the throne was foretold by St. Patrick, 
while he was an infant at his mother's breast. 



CHAPTER XLVn. 



The reign and death of Tuathal. — The accession of Dermod to the throne. — His reign 
and death. 

The history given to us of Tuathal, like that of his two immediate 
predecessors, is extremely scanty and barren of events. It is 
involved in impenetrable obscurity. We may observe, that historical 
notes and genealogical registers had, at this juncture, little of inte- 
rest, and less of novelty, to recommend them to the literary world ; 
for theological inquiries had opened so wide a field for the specula- 
tions of the learned, that they began to spurn that narrow compass 
of science to which they had been confined during the long twilight 
of paganism, and to this, as well as to the cause which we have 
already assigned, we must impute the historical dearth which impov- 
erishes our annals during the early ages of Christianity. 

The princes Fergus and Daniel, the sons of king Murtough, waged 
war at this time, by, we presume, the consent of the present monarch, 
on the Connacians, and, in a great battle which they gained at' 
Sligo, they succeeded in killing the king of Connaught and his prin- 
cipal generals. We are likewise told that Earca, the son of the 
monarch Olioll, invaded Leinster at this period, and that, in a battle 
fought near Wexford, which he lost, he was killed by the hand of 
the Leinster king. The crown of Connaught became now the prize 
of competition between Cealach, the son of the late king, who had, 
during his father's reign, devoted himself to a monastic life, under 
the holy abbot Ciaran, and Guare, the son of Coleman, king of North 



329 

Munster. But no sooner had Cealach heard, in his cell, of Guare's 
assumption of regal power, than he abstracted himself from devo- 
tional piety, and gave way to the strong impulses of jealousy and 
ambition. He immediately divested himself of the humble habit of 
a monk, and summoned all his clans to attend his standard ; nor 
were the partizans of his house slow in testifying their determination 
to support its dignity ; so that he soon found himself at the head of 
a numerous and devoted party. But before his measures were 
sufficiently organized, the holy Ciaran sent to him, expressing the 
strongest indignation at his impiety, and threatening to pursue him 
with the invocated vengeance of heaven, if he did not immediately 
return to his cell. Cealach, who had long cherished the sweets of 
retirement, and enjoyed the secret raptures of religious impressions, 
had now to struggle between the contending emotions of nature and 
grace ; of pride and humility ; of ambition and religion. The cause 
of virtue, however, proved triumphant, and the repenting Cealach 
once more threw away the royal robes, assumed the monastic habit, 
and returned to his cell, where he prostrated himself before the 
indignant abbot, and humbly implored his forgiveness. 

The sincerity of the prince's sorrow softened the abbot to com- 
passion ; he gave him his blessing and pardon ; but, at the same 
time, prophesied that his crime could only be expiated by his sutTer- 
ing a violent death. The prediction was verified by the event. 
Tuathal was assassinated by Maol-mor, who was instigated to the 
atrocious deed by Dermod, the succeeding monarch, A. D. 539, in 
the twelfth year of his reign. The sanguinary villain received the 
just reward of his crime ; for, when he waited on Dermod for the 
price of his diabolical deed, the latter caused his guards to seize 
him, and put him to a torturing death. Tuathal governed the nation 
with justice, clemency, and impartiality, during his short reign. 

Contemporary with this prince were Cormoc, king of Leinster, 
Deman, king of Ulster, Guai-e, king of Connaught, Forranan, king 
of Thomand ; and Fingin, the son of Aodh-dubh, of the Eugenian 
race, and ancestor of the Sept of the O'Sullivans, was king of 
South Munster. 

Dermod, who so cruelly doomed his predecessor to assassination, 
was the son of Fergus Rerbal, who was the grandson of Connall, of 
the dynasty of Nial the Great, was elected monarch by the national 
estates. At his coronation he assumed the title of Monarch of Scotia 
Major and Scotia Minor by the appointment of God. In the year 541 
a desperate battle was fought in the county of Cork, between the 
Lagenians and the Claud Breogan, with great slaughter on both 
sides. 

Such, as we have frequently observed in the course of this history, 
was the romantic passion of the Milesians for military fame, that 
the most trifling cause often induced the different septs to appoint a 
time and place to determine their matter of quarrel by force of arms. 
The day of battle was sometimes deferred to a period of six months, 
while the parties met in the interim, and transacted business as 
usual, in the most friendly manner. The glory and honour of vic- 
42 



330 

tory, and not the spoils of war, were alone aimed at by the chivalric 
combatants. 

The estates of the kingdom were, at this era, 549, convened at 
Tara, by the present monarch, Dermod. In our history of the reign 
of OUamh-Fodhla, we have detailed the ceremonies and observances 
which every prince and peer had to conform to, during the session 
of the national convention. One of the laws, enacted for the regu- 
lation of that senatorial institution, adjudged death to any person 
who would have the criminal temerity of striking another during the 
sittings of the representatives. For the first time the law was now 
violated by Cuarnane Mac Aodh, a prince of Connaught. This fiery 
youth, provoked by the insolent language of one of the representa- 
tives, struck him with his battle-axe, and killed him on the spot. 
Aware of the punishment due to the crime, and of the danger to 
which he had exposed himself, he immediately fled, for sanctuary, 
to Fergus and Daniel, the sons of Murtough, and besought their 
protection ; but these princes, though willing to protect their cousin, 
quickly foresaw that, if they attempted to shelter him, they would 
only draw down the vengeance of the monarch on their head. But 
feeling compassion for his situation, they enabled him to escape to 
the monastery of St. Columb Rille, at Derry. The royal abbot, 
sympathising in the distress of the fugitive, readily gave him an 
asylum. Dermod, however, denying the right assumed by the saint, 
of affording sanctuary to fugitives who fled from justice, caused a 
strong body of guards to drag Mac Aodh from the altar, and put 
him to death. 

St. Columb, highly incensed at the affi-ont put upon himself and 
his brethren, stirred up his kinsmen, the northern Hy Nials, and his 
cousins, Fergus and Daniel, by whose assistance, at the head of a 
mighty army, he attacked the monarch, defeated him in the most 
signal manner, and compelled him to retreat, in disorder, with his 
shattered bands, to Tara. Though Dermod had involved himself 
in this unsuccessful war, by endeavouring to give strength and efii- 
cacy to the laws, in exercising an act, if not of moral, at least of 
legal justice on one of his subjects, we find him, shortly after, impli- 
cated in another, through the same cause. 

Guare, king of Connaught, having deprived a religious woman of 
a cow, which was her only support, she, in consequence, made her 
complaint to the supreme sovereign, who immediately inarched, 
M'ith his forces, to the frontiers of Connaught, to punish the despotic 
Guare for his injustice. Having reached the Shannon, he found the 
Connacian army strongly posted on the opposite side ; but, fearless 
of danger, and borne away by his impetuous valour, he plunged into 
the tide, and made good his landing, in spite of all the efforts of the 
enemy. A fierce battle ensued, in which the Connacians were 
totally defeated. Guare, however, made good his retreat, and drew 
up his forces, the next day, in order of battle ; but, in a council of 
war, he was persuaded by his oflScers to submit to the monarch. 

Dermod, after receiving the sword of his fallen enemy, treated 
him with every insult and indignity, in a degrading manner that 
showed the littleness of a vindictive mind. "He commanded him," 



331 

says O'Halloran, " to lie on his back. He then placed one of his 
feet upon his breast, and thrust the point of his sword into his mouth, 
and then compelled him to express his sorrow for his disloyalty, 
and to swear fidelity and obedience to him during the residue of his 
life." 

The cause of this, like the causes assigned for the preceding wars, 
savours strongly of the fabulous. To suppose that Guare, who is so 
highly panegyrised by our historians, for his nobleness of mind and 
generosity of disposition, would deprive an indigent woman of her 
cow, is, in our opinion, very incredible. Another story, thrown out 
of the loom of fiction by some adulating poet, who wove it merely 
to place the justness of the monarch in a more luminous point of 
view, is told by Keating and O'Halloran. 

But let us translate Dr. Reating's version of this poetic creation ; 

" Prince Breasal, at this time, invited his father, the monarch, 
and the principal nobility then at Tara, to a banquet at his palace 
at Kells, in the county of Meath. To enrich this feast with every 
luxury, the prince was assiduous in providing prime joints of meat 
from all parts of the kingdom. His purveyors, however, sought in 
vain, amongst his numerous herds of oxen, for a beef of such extra- 
ordinary size and fatness as would come up to the heau ideal of the 
prince. But, as he was expressing his regret at their inability to 
procure a steer of such a description as he wanted, one of his ser- 
vants told him that a recluse widow, in the neighbourhood, had in 
her possession the largest and fattest beast in the country. The 
prince, rejoiced at the information, instantly despatched one of his 
stewards to the widow to purchase the beef; but she, on being ap- 
plied to, resolutely refused to sell it at any price ; and although he 
even offered seven fat heifers and a bull in exchange, she still inex- 
orably adhered to her determination of not parting with her ox. 
Breasal, indignant at her conduct, ordered a party of his soldiers to 
bring to him the steer, which they did, in despite of the cries and 
entreaties of the poor widow. It was cooked and served up at the 
banquet. The king and all the other guests of the prince expressed 
their admiration of the excellence of the beef; but the entertainment 
was scarcely over, when the weeping widow threw herself at the 
monarch's feet, and demanded justice and satisfaction for the spolia- 
tion of her property. Her piteous story inflamed the indignation of 
Dermod against the prince, his son, to the highest pitch of passion, 
so that in the vehemence of his choler, he ordered the unfortunate 
Breasal to instant death, without allowing himself to institute an 
inquiry into the merits of the case, or to hearken to the expostulation 
of the interceding nobles." 

Thus we give the tale, for so we think it is, literallyl^as we found 
it in the Irish of Keating, without attaching the slightest credit to 
its pretended authenticity. 

The restless and ambitious Guare, king of Connaught, had scarce- 
ly made peace with the monarch, when he directed his arms against 
the king of Munster, to recover the territories which had been 
wrested from his ancestor by Luigh Liamb-Dearg, in the fourth 
century. The king of Munster, who was aware of the intended 



332 

invasion, met Guare at Cnoc Aine, (the hill of birds,) in the county 
of Limerick, where Guare sustained a decisive defeat. So signal 
was the overthrow, that but few of his soldiers escaped from the 
field of battle. There were six princes, as well as the noblest chiefs 
of Connaught amongst the slain. 

Dermod, in the twentieth year of his reign, to avenge, it is said, 
an insult offered to his ambassador, at the court of Ulster, invaded 
that province in the year 55S of the Christian era. In his progress 
to Armagh he devastated the country, and drove the Ultonians in 
consternation before him, to the borders of the county of Antrim. 
The Ultonians, however, under their king, Aodh Dubh, resolving 
to stop the career of the enemy, posted themselves in a narrow 
defile in the mountains, where they resolved to conquer or die, 
Dermod, counting on the valour of his soldiers and the enthusiasm 
that animated them, put himself at their head and charged, with the 
intention of forcing the pass. But, notwithstanding the impetuosity 
of the assailants, the Ultonians stood like a wall of brass. In the 
fury of the contest the monarch and the king of Ulster fought hand 
to hand, with the most determined bravery, and, after contending 
for an hour, like enraged giants, Dermod fell pierced with wounds. 
The royal army seeing the national standard lowered, which was 
the signal of the death of the monarch, began to retreat, having 
previously recovered the body of Dermod, which they carried with 
them to the church of Cluan Mac Noise, on the banks of the Boyne, 
where it was interred with funeral honours. The Ultonians were 
too much disabled to follow the retreating army. 

O'Duvegan, a genealogical writer of the seventh century, con- 
cludes his eulogium on Dermod in the following words : — " Of all 
the Irish kings, this was the greatest, the most excellent, the most 
powerful, and the most experienced legislator." This picture has, 
indeed, too much of the glaring colours of poetic hyperbole. 

The contemporaries of Dermod were Finghin O'Sullivan and 
Failbhe O'Connall, kings of South and North Munster; Fergus Mac 
Rosa, king of Connaught; Deman, king of Ulster; Comgall, the 
tributary king of the Albanian Scots; and Carbre, king of Leinster. 

"It was," writes Moore in his history, "in the reign of this mon- 
arch, (A. D. 554.) the ancient Hall or Court of Tara, in which, for 
so many centuries, the Triennial Councils of the nation had been 
held, saw, for the last time, her kings and nobles assembled within 
its precincts ; and the cause of the desertion of this long honoured 
seat of legislation shows to what an enormous height the power of 
the ecclesiastical order had then risen. Some fugitive criminal, 
who had fled for sanctuary to the monastery of St. Ruan, having 
been dragged forcibly from thence to Tara, and there put to death, 
the holy abbot and his monks cried aloud against the sacrilegious 
violation; and proceeding in solemn procession to the Palace, pro- 
nounced a curse upon its walls. 'From that day,' say the annalists, 
'no king ever sat again at Tara;' and a poet who wrote about that 
period, while mourning evidently over the fall of this seat of gran- 
deur, ventures but to say, 'It is not with my will that Teamor is 



333 

deserted.'* A striking memorial of the church's triumph on the 
occasion, was preserved in the name of distinction given to the 
monastery ,t which was, ever after, in memory of this malediction, 
called 'The Monastery of the Curses of Ireland.' " 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 



Fergus and Daniel ascend the throne. — Their reign. — Accession and reign of Jlchy — 
of Carhre Croman — of Mnmcric — ofBadan — and of Hugh. — The events of Hugh's 
reign, and his death. 

The death of Dermod called forth many candidates for the vacant 
throne. We have shown, in the last chapter, that Fergus and 
Daniel, the sons of the monarch, Murtough, were powerful princes, 
who had distinguished themselves by their valour and success in the 
invasion of Con naught. On the present occasion they had on foot 
a large army to back their pretensions to the monarchy. 

The national representatives assembled at Tara, A. D. 559, and, 
after a short deliberation, elected Fergus and Daniel joint monarchs 
of Ireland. As soon as they had mounted the throne they despatched 
ambassadors to the king of Leinster, to inform him, that, unless he 
caused the balance of the Boroihme, or tribute, to be promptly paid 
to them, on their arrival, that the kings, with the royal army, would 
invade his territories, and enforce the payment of the impost. The 
Leinster king, far from complying with the arrogant requisition, 
placed himself at the head of his forces, and marched to the fron- 
tiers to meet the invading foe. The belligerents came to battle at 
Iniver More, Arklow,| and after a brave resistance, the Lagenians 
were decisively defeated. 

* Irish Hymn, attributed to Fiech, a disciple of St. Patrick, but evidently, from 
this allusion to the desertion of Tara, written at least as late as the time of King 
Diarmid. 

t Annal. Ulton. ad ann. 564, note. 

t Arklow, a neat, thriving seaport town in the county of Wicklow, seated on 
the beautifully wooded banks of the charming river Avoca, at the distance of fifty 
miles S. E. from Dublin, abounds with antique monuments of historical recollec- 
tions. Its ruins are impressive, solemn, and aifecting. The white houses, at a 
distance, appear to rise on each side of this classic stream, whose banks are finely 
fringed with venerable oaks, like druidical priestesses, in their snowy robes, as if 
ascending to temples on the impending summits. From the noble bridge, of nine- 
teen arches, which crosses the Avoca, the traveller beholds, on one side, the pelucid 
bay reflecting the blue sky, and on the other, the bold acclivities, studded with 
giant oaks, and wreathed with shrubs and grassy fillets of the softest verdure. 
Bishop Pococke, the celebrated author of Travels in the East, was delighted with 
the romantic and magnificent scenery of Arklow. In his remarks on it he says, 
" This is a most charming place, that possesses all that is desirable in landscape 
scenery. The ruins of castles and abbeys embosomed in groves, and skirted by 
modern residences, bestow the interest of contrast on the lively scene. This ' sea- 
born' town, with its noble bay and golden sands, verdant steeps and winding glens, 
when viewed from the promontory, where the prospect brings all the groupings 
of the landscape under the eye, presents a striking resemblance to the hill of 



334 

The reign of these victorious kings, who are so extolled for mar- 
tial genius and daring, was short, but brilliant ; and although one 
year terminated it, yet it was as eventful and memorable as if it had 
lasted half a century. We marvel, indeed, why our annalists do 
not inform us more particularly of the events of this reign. We are 
likewise left in the dark as to the cause of their death; for, whether 
they suffered as the victims of conspiracy, or fell in the field of 
battle, or, what is more unlikely, died a natural death, is a question 
that can never be satisfactorily answered. Dr. Warner, we do not 
know on what authority, says, that during their short but glorious 
reign, they fought the king of Munster, who brought into the field 
the strength of the entire province, and completely defeated him, 
and compelled him to pay tribute, and send them hostages.* 

As we cannot find this battle spoken of by any other writer, save 
Dr. Warner, and Mr. Wyne, who probably follows his authority, 
we are inclined to think he has mistaken it for the battle of Arklow, 
in which the monarchs triumphed over the Lagenians, and in conse- 
quence, exacted, as conquerors, the Leinster tribute. The battle of 
Arklow is spoken of by all our historians. Keating, O'Halloran, 
M'Geoghegan, Cummerford, O'Flaherty, and M'Dermott concur in 
their accounts of it. The latter writer is of opinion, that Fergus 
and Daniel fell in an engagement near Cashel, in the county of 
Tipperary. 

Achy, the son of Daniel, succeeded his father and uncle, A. D. 
560, associating with him on the throne, his father's youngest 
brother, Badan. But they were not suffered to hold the sceptre 
longer than three years. Carbre CromanJ an aspiring prince, the 
son of Tigernach, of their own dynasty, attacked the joint sover- 
eigns, and succeeded in vanquishing and depriving them of life, in 
the battle of Glengivin, in Meath. Carbre was scarcely seated on 
the throne, when Coleman, the son of king Dermod instigated an 
insurrection against him. In the battle which took place in conse- 
quence, both antagonists died of their wounds. 

Ainmeric, of the house of Nial the Great, and grandson of Fergus, 
was elected monarch, A. D. 563. In the third year of his reign he 
was defeated and killed, in the battle of Careg Leime-an Eich, by 
his cousin Fergus Hy-Nial. Ainmeric was a very pious prince, 
much devoted to religion, and scrupulously observant of its rights 
and discipline. 

Mount Sion, at Jerusalem." The house and domain of Lord Wicklow impart 
grace, beauty, and cheerfulness to the environs of Arklow. The abbey was found- 
ed in 1264, by Theobald Butler, whose statue, of white marble, stands in the choir 
of the parish church. The castle, which crowns an eminence overlooking the 
river, once the feudal residence of the O'Byrnes, was battered and dilapidated by 
Cromwell's soldiers. A fierce and sanguinary battle was fought in the vicinity of 
this town, on the 7th of June, 1798, between the Armagh, Cavan, and North Cork 
militia, as well as the Durham fencibles, under the command of General Needham, 
and the Irish Republicans, led on by the brave but unfortunate enthusiast, the 
Rev. Michael Murphy, who fell gallantly fighting, like one of his Milesian ances- 
tors, in the engagement. 

^ " Whether the two monarchs were mortally wounded in this engagement, 
which is not improbable, or whether they fell by a natural death, is uncertain : we 
are only told that they both died soon after." — Warner. 



335 

Badan, cousin-german of the late monarch, succeeded A. D. 566; 
but his reign was terminated in a year. He invaded Connaught, 
and was killed at the battle of Bagha, in the county of Leitrim. 
We are told by our annalists that Badan was defeated in the first 
year of his reign, and obliged to take shelter in St. Columb's monas- 
tery, at Derry, whence he was dragged by his revolted subjects, and 
put to death. 

Aodh, or Hugh, the son of Ainmeric, succeeded A. D. 576. This 
priuce is represented to have been pious and valiant, and extremely 
liberal in his donations to the church. He granted the territory of 
Doire, now Derry,* to St, Columb Kille, on which tliat famous saint 
founded a monastery, celebrated during his life and for many ages 
after, for the nun^iber, piety, and learning of its monks. 

Hugh was not permitted long to hold his sceptre in peace or 
comfort. He, in the beginning of his reign, was attacked by Col- 
man, the son of Dermod, the former monarch, who aspired to the 
throne. The contending competitors for empire fought a battle at 
Dathi, in Meath, which was heroically disputed on both sides ; but 
at length the monarch proved victorious after killing his adversary 
and five thousand of his best troops, in the field. During this reign, 
according to Bishop Usher, Aidanus, of the house of O'Donnel, was 
consecrated by his uncle, St. Columb Rille, King of the Albanian 
Scots, in the Isle of Sky. 

The reign of Hugh is distinguished in our annals, in consequence 
of his having, at this era, convened a congress of the national estates 
at Drumkeat, (the Eminence of the Plough,) in Meath. The mon- 
arch had three principal objects in view in calling this meeting: the 
first was to repress the pride and insolence of the bards and anti- 
quarians, who, not only from their numbers, but also from their 
immunities, became a burden on the state.t The second, to enforce 

* Londonderry, the ancient patrimony of the O'Dougherties, called in Irish 
Daire Calgac, (the Vale of Oaks,) is the scene of historical events, and the site of 
venerable monuments of antiquity. That city is beautifully situated on a penin- 
sula eminence at the narrow part of Lough Foyle, at the distance of a hundred 
and fifty Eng-lish miles from Dublin. It is a very flourishing city, admirably and 
advantageously situated for commerce. When James L confiscated the estates of 
the O'Neils, O'Donnels, and O'Dougherties, he seized on upwards of half a million 
of acres of the lands of these proscribed and persecuted noblemen, two thousand 
acres of which he sold to London adventurers in 1607; hence the name London- 
derry. The streets are regular and well paved, and the houses, which are built of 
polished freestone, have a pleasing appearance. 

The Abbey, dedicated to St. Peter and Paul, was erected by St. Columb Kille, 
(the Dove of the Church,) in the year 545. 

Prince Turlogh O'Niel built another abbey, for nuns of the Cesterian order 
here, in 1218, and a Dominican Friary was founded on the north side of the city, 
by O'Donnel, prince of Tyrconnel, in the year 1274. There is not a trace of the 
monastery to be seen. The cathedral, a noble pile of Gothic architecture, is in 
fine repair. This episcopal edifice was originally founded by St. Congall, the son 
of the king of Leinster, about the year 613. In 1150 Mureach O'Coffy, the then 
bishop, enlarged and beautified the cathedral. It was consumed by fire in 1151, 
but, by the munificence of Maurice M'Loughlin, King of Ireland, it was soon 
rebuilt, in more than its pristine magnificence of architecture. 

t Poets being increased to a prodigious number, and becoming a grievance to 
the people, from the charge they were at to support them. Hugh was determined 
to put them under another regulation, or else to expel them out of the kingdom. 
Indeed, if the account is to be credited that, because of the ease and idleness 



336 

the payment of tlie tribute that Nial the Great had imposed on the 
Dalriadian colony of Scotland, which they had not paid for some 
time; and thirdly, to deprive Scanlan More of the government of 
Ossory, and to transfer it to his son Jollan. It would seem that the 
monarch could have conferred the government of Ossory on Jollan 
without consulting the national estates, as he had imprisoned his 
father, Scanlan, and consequently had nothing to fear from the 
consequences of promoting the son to the power which he had 
wrested from the father with impunity. 

Why this assembly was held at Drumkeat, and not at Tara, as 
was customary, we are not informed by the Irish historians ; but, 
whatever may have been the cause, it was not inferior in pomp and 
splendour to any of the former conventions. AH the princes of 
Ireland, Albany, and the Isle of Man were summoned to attend. 
St. Columb Kille alone, though perhaps next to the king, on account 
of the profound esteem and reverence in which he was held by the 
Irish people, was not invited to this convocation of princes and 
nobles. It is certain, however, that if St. Columb was not summon- 
ed from his monastery of lona, in the Hebrides of Scotland, where 
he was now a resident, it did not, we think, arise from either enmity 
or jealousy on the part of the king, as he was particularly attached 
to the saint, and bestowed on him, as we have already stated, the 
territory of Derry, to erect a monastery and church on it. The 
saint having the most powerful influence over the minds of the Alba- 
nians and Picts, among whom he was then preaching the gospel, 
Hugh might have thought his presence in the country necessary to 
prevent a defection from the mother country. The monarch was 
perhaps, influenced by another reason in not inviting St. Columb 
to the assembly : — he knew that his mission to the Picts was in 
performance of a penance imposed upon him by St. Molaise, for the 
wars and civil broils which he had excited by his violent temper, as 
we have related in the last chapter, and that he had bound him, by 
a solemn promise, that he never was to set his eyes on the scenes 
or soil of his native land ; so that it would be an insult offered to the 
royal saint to invite him to a congress, where he could not appear 
without violating his vow. 

The poets, adopting every plan to avert the militant consequences 
that menaced their body, sent a special mission to St. Columb, their 
chief laureate, imploring him to attend the convocation, and to 
exert his influence and eloquence in their behalf. This solicitation 
of the bards, as well as the deep interest which the saint took in the 
temporal and spiritual advantages of his adopted country, operated 
powerfully on his feelings, and produced the determination of revis- 
iting his native land. But to fulfil, at the same time, the obligations 
of his vow, and carry his resolution of pleading before the assembly 
for the bards and the cause of the poets, he covered his eyes with a 
sear cloth, and, hoodwinked thus, was conducted to the general 
congress, attended by twenty bishops, forty priests, and fifty deacons. 

enjoyed by this profession — for there a profession it v/as — and of the ^reat immu- 
nities annexed to it by the ancient laws of the land, the resolution of the monarch 
seems wise and necessary." — Warner. 



337 

That an abbot, should have priests, deacons, and even bishops in 
his train, would appear doubtful, if not supported by the most 
respectable authority — that of tlie venerable Bede, who had the best 
opportunity of knowing whatever belonged to ecclesiastical subjects 
in the British Isles. The great historian of the ecclesiastical affairs 
of Britain says, "7^ was usual in this island, (lona,) to have an abbot 
for its governor, loho was a priest to whom not only the entire province, 
hut even the bishops themselves, by an extraordinary decree, were sub- 
ject, following herein the example of its first doctor and teacher, who 
was not a bishop, but a priest and a monk." But it is obvious that, 
even if Columb had not precedence of the bishops by any ecclesias- 
tical institute, gratitude alone, for the spiritual blessings which their 
country derived from his apostolic labours, and their knowledge of 
his illustrious birth, would have induced them to give him, in consid- 
eration of these causes, and of his superior talents, that priority of 
rank to which his priestly dignity did not entitle him. 

"We may judge of the importance of the debates which took place 
in this memorable convention, from its having remained in session 
fourteen months, a term much longer than any former sitting. In 
this regal, princely, and noble assembly, we find the following names 
enumerated : Criomtban, king of Leinster ; Jollan, king of Ossory ; 
Maodium, king of West Munster ; Guare, son of Coleman, king of 
North and South Munster; Fingin, or Florence, son of Hugh Dubh, 
king of East Munster; Criomthan, king of West Ireland ; Ragallach, 
son of Udach, king of Tuatha ; and Breffeny O'Rourke and Conquill 
Cearnach, kings of Urial ; Congallach, prince of Tirconnel ; and 
Fearguil, king of Leinster. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 



St. Colurnba pleads for the lards before the National Assembly, and procures an 
acknowledgment of the independence of the Albanian Scots. — Death of the monarch 
Aodh. — His contemporaries. — Biography of St. Columb Kille. 

The news of the approach of St. Colurnba inspired the bards with 
cheering hopes, while it depressed and damped the expectations of 
the monarch and his ministers, who foresaw that the eloquence and 
influence of the saint would frustrate all the measures which they 
had designed for enactment in the present convention. 

Keating relates that when the queen, who for some cause of which 
we are not informed, was very inimical to the holy man, was appris- 
ed of his arrival in the vicinity of the senate house, with a numerous 
train of ecclesiastics, she induced her son Connell to collect a rude 
mob, who not only loaded the venerable abbot with every species of 
the most insulting and opprobrious contumely, but pelted him and 
his followers with mud. The saint bore this gross usage with meek- 
ness and resignation, and proceeded to the senate house amidst a 
43 



338 

shower of filth and missiles. On entering* the hall, the monarch, 
pvovincial princes, and national representatives rose simultaneously 
to salute him. His cousin, O'Niel, king of Ulster, caused the Saint 
to take a seat on his throne, and his retinue to occupy chairs of 
state adjoining it. 

St. Columba, without uttering a word of complaint of the rudeness 
he and his followers experienced from Prince Connell, commenced 
speaking on the subjects of debate. In the exordium of his speech 
he expressed his regret for the war he had fomented ; admitted the 
justness of the penance that had been imposed upon him, and 
declared that nothing else than the sincere desire of warding off 
the blow which menaced the existence of the bardic order, and a 
wish to exempt the Dalriadian colony, as well as their subjects, the 
Caledonians, from the tribute which they owed to the Irish crown, 
could have induced him to visit the land of his birth. He then gave 
a narrative of the success of his mission, in convei-ting all the inhabi- 
tants of Scotland to the Christian creed. 

Passing from these subjects, he entered into the discussion by 
labouring, with great force of eloquence, to impress the assembly 
with feelings of compassion towards the bards and antiquarians. 
He urgently represented to the convention, that it would be more 
prudent, glorious, and beneficial to the state, to diminish the number 
of the " sons of song and story," than to suppress altogether a body 
of men whose genius celebrated virtue, and immortalized the deeds 
of the valiant and the wise. "If," said he, "you exile the poets, 
who will transmit the fame of the brave in arms to posterity 1 what 
greater incentive can inflame the breast of the patriotic warrior, in 
defence of his country, than the certainty that his exploits will live 
in song, and that his name shall be gk)rified in the lasting monu- 
ments of genius 1 To merit the eulogium of the poet has ever been 
the passion and ambition of our greatest heroes and legislators. To 
whom, then, O monarch of Erin, and exalted princes of Inisfail, is 
our country indebted for her illustrious renown in arms, in arts, and 
in letters 1 Surely ye will all say, ' To the poets !' Their soft or 
sublime effusions, which powerfully touched the passions of the 
brave and the generous, while they made the heart of the fiercest 
warrior glow with emotions of tenderness and love, often animated 
and roused a Tuathal, a Cormac, or a Nial, with resistless energy 
of spirit, to the combat of heroes. These great conquerors, while 
preparing for the strife of shields, and enjoying the dehghtful rap- 
ture — the ethereal pleasure, which the combined powers of music 
and poetry create, felt that the song of the bard, which is not only 
the source of melting joy, but of noble and heroic exertion, owed its 
origin to that invisible power, whose influence seemed to hallow and 
animate the mind of the inspired poet. I think that poetry is not 
yet degenerated among us, nor that inspiration is extinct in our 
poetic productions. Our present bards, like those of other times, 
consecrate their genius to the ennobling task of celebrating the 
praises of heroes ; of forming and elevating the virtues of the living, 
by applauding those of the dead. Yes, sire, and princes, if you 
banish the poets you will undermine the proud fabric of our Jitera- 



339 

tiire, paralyze the martial spirit of the country, and sink the charac- 
ter of the nation low in the scale of moral and intellectual attain- 
ment. Oil ! then, let me implore this regal and princely assembly 
to pause ere they prostrate the literary gloiy of thei,r country — ere 
they extinguish the refulgence of the muses, and benight Ireland, 
the foster-mother of poetry, piety, and learning, in the gloom of 
ignorance. This is the last lime that I shall address ye, most regal 
and princely sages ! but, before I bid an eternal adieu to the country 
of my birth — of my sovereign fathers; a country, oh, misery unutte- 
rable ! in which my crimes deny to me a grave, let me, the descen- 
dant of Nial the Great, conjure and supplicate this august convention 
to retain and preserve a portion of the bards, to not only illuminate 
our country with the radiance of genius, — but to relinquish the right 
of, and release the Caledonian colonists, who will ever acknowledge 
their feudal obedience to Ireland, from the tribute for which they 
are bound to the monarch of Ireland."* 

At this epoch it was an evil peculiar to the Irish poets to have 
many dependents, who were glad of enlisting under their banners, 
from the immunities they then enjoyed, and the respect which was 
paid to them. The saint, therefore, in the course of his speech, 
advised the convention to limit the students in the different colleges, 
and to check the insolence of those who, without being regularly 
educated, or possessing the gifts of genius, wished to appear in the 
train of the poets, and to wear the borrowed livery of the legitimate 
sons of inspiration. 

The speech of St. Columba enlisted the sympathies of the convo- 
cation in the cause he advocated. His representations were emi- 
nently successful. The convention resolved, that thenceforth the 
monarch's chief bard was to be president of all the poetic colleges 

* The speech of St. Columba in the text we have translated from Molloy : it 
never appeared before in an English dress. O'Flaherty alludes to it, and says, 
" St. Columba's speech at the great parliament, breathed the eloquence of inspira- 
tion ; it effected great purposes, the retention of the Irish bards, and the release of 
the Caledonians and Picts from the Irish tribute. The speech is preserved in the 
book of Donegal, and thence copied into the compilation of the Four Masters." 
How often have we, since we commenced writing a history of Ireland, been pro- 
voked and mortified in hearing men utterly ignorant of the history of their country, 
exclaim, " Oh, we have read Keating, and O'Halloran, and they have given us all 
we want to know of Ireland." Now we could swear on the rubric that not one of 
the men who used this language could tell, if he were asked, " whether was 
Heremon the Son or the Father of Milesius .' Whether Nial the Great, and Con 
of the hundred battles, were contemporaries ; whether Fion Mac CumJial and Ossian 
were brothers.''" But in this fate we are not singular. Men of narrow under- 
standing, and contracted intellect, are not able to discriminate between compilation 
and originality. They think, that, because we take the frame work of our history 
from O'Flaherty, Keating, O'Halloran, Cumerford, and O'Connor, that we are not 
entitled to any credit for the drapery of thought, the embellishment of the lan- 
guage, and the blazonery of research, with which we decorate the harren facts of 
our predecessors. 

We owe no more to those historians who have preceded us than Robertson owes 
to Fordun and Buchanan, than Gibbon owes to Tacitus, or that Lingard owes to 
Bede and Clarendon. All we will say of our history of Ireland, is that the lan- 
guage and sentiment of the narrative are original, and that we have illustrated it 
with several translations, and extended the discoveries of research far beyond the 
land-marks set up by Keating and O'Halloran. This we predict will be yet 
admitted by every candid critic who is versed in the philosophy of Irish history. 



340 

in the kingdom ; that he should have the power of appointing inspec- 
tors to examine the state of the different schools, and to enact such 
regulations as he deemed best suited to give efficacy to this restric- 
ting law. It was also, at the same time enacted, that the monarch, 
the provincial sovereigns, and minor chieftains should each retain a 
poet, to record the exploits and preserve the genealogies of his fam- 
ily ; and a salary was to be allowed to them, adequate to support 
them with suitable respectability. As a compensation to the state 
for their immunities and salaries, they were obliged to instruct the 
youth of several districts, in history, poetry, and antiquities. The 
revenues intended for their support were exempted, as usual, from 
tax and plunder ; their persons were inviolable ; and exclusive of 
their settled annuities, they were to be paid for each poem, accor- 
ding to its merit, by their particular patrons. 

The second object of the meeting being to impose a tax on the 
Dalriada of Albania, the king urged the measure with as much 
energy, as the saint opposed it. The eloquence of the royal abbot 
triumphed over the suggestions of the sovereign. The law author- 
izing the exaction of the impost was abrogated, and the Albanian 
Scots were declared the allies and friends of Ireland, and exonerated 
from all kinds of tribute, except in cases of murder and spoliation, 
when they were bound to make reparation to the friends of the 
deceased as well as to the injured person. 

The saint having thus effected his purposes, took his leave of the 
monarch and assembly, and set out on his journey to Albania; but 
on his way home, he visited Scanlan More the deposed king of 
Ossory, whom he liberated from the trammels of a prison, having 
succeeded, while at the convention, in obtaining his pardon from 
the monarch. 

Shortly after the dissolution of the convocation of Drumceat, 
Connell, the eldest son of Aodh, invaded the territories of Colman 
Bemhidh, but his army was defeated and himself slain in the field 
of battle. At this juncture, A. D. 594, Aodh embodied a great mili- 
tary force veith which he invaded Leinster to enforce the payment 
of a tribute which had been the cause of so many former wars. The 
people of Leinster flew to arms on his approach and gave him battle 
in the vicinity of the town of Swords, near the city of Dublin, where 
they totally vanquished his troops, and slew himself. Aodh, or 
Hugh, was a prince of amiable private qualities, but he wished to 
exercise the arbitrary sway of an absolute monarch. During his 
reign, which lasted twenty-four years, the country enjoyed repose 
and prosperity. 

The reigning Princes in Ireland, at the period of Hugh's death, 
were Dioma, king of Munster, Colman More, king of Leinster, 
Maolcatch, king of Connaught, and Congall, the son of Gabhran, 
ruled the Picts in Albany. 

As the life of St. Columb Kille embraced great historical events, 
and as his genius and piety reflected lustre on the fame of his coun- 
try, we will weave a biographical sketch of him, in our history of 
Ireland. 

This renounced saint, who, to use the language of Dr. Johnson, 



341 

first " preached the Gospel of Christ to the roving clans and rude 
barbarians of ancient Caledonia," was the son of Feidlim, the son 
of Fergus, the son of Connell (from whom Tirconnell derives its 
name) the son of INial the Great. He was born in Gartown, in the 
county of Donegal, on the 9th of June, in the year 519. His 
mother, Eitha, like his father, was of the blood royal of Ireland ; 
she was the daughter of Deema, a prince of Leinster, and the direct 
descendant of Carbre Liffichaire, the monarch of Ireland, in the 
third century. Immediately after his birth, his mother bore him to 
the cell of Cruachan a learned and pious monk, who baptized him 
by the name of Criomthan O^Cuin. At seven years of age after 
leaving the nursery, his parents placed him under the instruction of 
the hermit Cruachan. This anchorite bestowed the greatest care, 
and the most assiduous attention on the education of his noble pupil. 
He made so rapid a progress in his studies under the tutorage of 
the hermit, that, on the attainment of his tenth year, he was a pro- 
ficient in Greek and Latin classics, while with these acquisitions he 
possessed a comprehensive knowledge of the holy Scriptures, as 
well as of the histories of the saints and martyrs of the Christian 
church. His person was robust, but graceful, and his face presented 
the expression of mildness and gentleness of disposition. Like 
many other personages, destined to soar to eminence in the world 
our saint's birth, we are informed by Colgan, and Keating, was 
preceded by some extraordinary omens. Saint Patrick, and his 
successor MavetTi, predicted the sanctity and distinction which should 
immortalize the Life of Columba, and the glory that he should 
acquire in converting Caledonia to Christianity. His mother too, 
while pregnant with the saint, dreamed, one night, that an uncom- 
mon personage, whose figure and mien bespoke him more than 
mortal, had presented her with a spangled veil of the most varying 
and vivid hues, but that while she was yet gazing on its beauties 
with admiration, he snatched it out of her hands, and then raising 
and expanding it in the breeze, it flew up to heaven in such ampli- 
tude of distention that it concealed, like a drapery, the whole concave 
of the horizon. Perceiving that what she so lately possessed, was 
irretrievably lost, she burst out in tears of sorrow, when the angel 
moved by her wailings, thus addressed her: "Fair and faithful 
daughter of kings, dry up the tears of thy anguish, for the veil you 
have lost is but the emblem of that child to whom you will soon give 
birth, and who is destined and ordained to be one of the prophets 
of God. His name shall be immortal, and his piety and eloquence 
shall lead myriads of souls to heaven." This dream made a deep 
impression on the mother of Columba, who, the moment he was 
born, devoted him by a vow to the church ; and consequently his 
education was such as might qualify him for the sacred office he 
was to fill.* 

After the saint had studied literature, science, and theology under 
the learned preceptor, Cruachan, he was removed to the school of 
the celebrated St. Finian, in Downpatrick. It was at this school 

* The description of the dream of Columb Kille's mother we have translated 
from " Flemminff's Miscellanies." 



342 

he received the name of Columb, from his fellow-students, because 
of the dove-like innocence of his behaviour, the amiableness of his 
manners, and the beauty of his person. St. Finian, perceiving how 
applicable the terra thus instinctively applied to the youth was to 
his personal and mental endowments, believed it was the will of 
heaven that he should be so called, and he never after accosted him 
by his original name, Criomthan. 

When St. Finian become bisljop of the see, and head of the famed 
college of Clonard,* in Meath, his disciple, St. Columba, accompa- 
nied him thither. 

"St. Finian," says Ware, "was the first bishop of Clonard, and 
a famous philosopher and divine. He was of a noble family, but 
much more ennobled by his piety, at St. DavicTs, in Wales, where 
he was deeply beloved of the bishop of that place, with whom he 
sometimes sojourned. Upon his return home he was made a bishop, 
and fixed his see at Clonard, in Meath, near the river Boyne, where 
he also erected a famous college, which, by his great care and 
labours, bred many famous, holy and learned men, some of whom 
were the two Kierans, the two Brendans, the two Columbs. He 
died on the 12th of December, 552, and was buried under the altar 
of his own church." 



CHAPTER L. 

Biography of St. Columba, Continued. 



Our Saint continued five years at the celebrated college of Clo- 
nard, where, like a diligent Bee, he sipped the honey of poetry, 
literature, science, and divinity from the lessons of St. Finian, and 
the other professors of the " Great school of the West,'''' as Bede 
designated the University of Clonard. His education being thus 
completed, his venerable master bestowed on him the order of 
Priesthood. The discipline established in the college of Clonard, 
by St. Finian, for the probation of candidates for holy orders, were 
trying and severe. On the entrance of the young student into the 
house, he was received with parental tenderness, and the most 
gentle means were adopted to fire his mind with emulation, and a 
desire for distinguishing himself in piety, literature, and philosophy. 
At the end of a year after his admission, " he was," says the vene- 

* Clonard, situated thirty-five miles N. W. of Dublin, in the county of Meath, 
though now a hamlet village, was once an episcopal city, possessing a university 
where, in the latter end of the sixth century, more than five thousand students 
received at a time, their education. The first abbey was founded there by St. 
Finian, who was of royal lineage and the most learned philosopher of his day. 
This renowned saint died of the plague, in December, 552, on which day his festi- 
val is celebrated. The tomb of the Dillon family still stands in high preservation 
in the abbey. The Delacies founded a monastery here in 1190. 



343 

rable and profound Bishop Burke,* "ordered to build a small cell 
near the college, with his own hands for his oratory. Here the 
student watched, prayed, studied, and slept. By day he was to 
assemble with his school-fellows, and enter into an emulous trial of 
mental competition wilh them. Thus were all in a state of activity, 
rivalling each other in their exertions to arrive at evangelical per- 
fection, — and contemptuous of worldly magnificence, there was no 
room for cabal — no subject for discontent — for when disengaged 
from their studies, the youth were necessitated to work for their 
sustenance with their own hands." 

From the illustrious College of Clonard, (the lovely hill) where 
many French and Spanish princes received their education during 
the sixth and seventh centuries, issued a brilliant array of learning 
and sanctity. The two St. Kierans, the two Columbas, as well as 
the Saints Brandons, Lasserius, Muachas, Ruadan, with a numerous 
host of talented and holy men, whose genius reflected lustre on 
their country's fame, by the eminent exercise of their piety, learn- 
ing and capacity, in foreign climes. 

In 543, he took leave of his kind patron St. Finian, and set out 
on a missionary tour through Ireland, in order to build churches, 
preach the sublime truths of the Gospel, and found monasteries in 
such parts of the country as required them. 

To enumerate all the churches and monasteries built by our saint, 
would require the space of a volume. He was on the retreat, 
engaged in prayer and penance in his abbey at Derry, when king 
Dermod, as we have already recorded in a former chapter, violated 
the right of sanctuary with which the edifice was invested, and 
thereby incurred the resentment of the saint, who led forth his 

* The Right Rev. Dr. Thomas Eurke, has contributed so vast a fund of antiqua- 
rian research and acute illustrations to our annals, that we shall, as a debt of grati- 
tude for the information we derive from his writings, in a future number, pay a 
biographical tribute to his memory. He was a native of Dublin, where he was 
born in 1710. At the age of fifteen, his father sent him to Rome, to study divinity 
under his maternal uncle. Rev. James Fitzgerald, then prior of the convent of St. 
Sixtus and Clement. In Rome his learning and eloquence procured for him the 
favourable notice of Pope Benedict XIII. He was advanced by his Holiness, to 
the highest theological honours, and promoted in 1759, to the see of Ossory. This 
exalted station, so justly due to his talents, erudition, piety, benevolence, and 
other exemplary virtues, he did not enjoy many years, for he died in Kilkenny, in 
September, 1776. His excellent work, entitled, " Hibernica DominicancB," is a 
gigantic pile of intellect, research, and historical inquiry. He devoted a volume 
of this celebrated work to the history of Ireland, from the English invasion, to the 
year 1772, including a comprehensive account of all the abbeys and convents 
which were erected in the country, from the days of St. Patrick down to the 
present day. This valuable book, without which there would have been a chasm 
in the history of our country, was denounced in the Irish parliament in 1775, as a 
seditious publication. The Lord Lieutenant offered a reward for the discovery of 
the author, and called, ex officio, upon the Roman Catholic prelates to pass sen- 
tence of reprobation " against a book that was calculated to fill the public mind 
with alarm, and to sow the seeds 0"f disunion among the Irish people." 

Seven Catholic prelates, accordingly, at a synod held in Thurles, passed an 
interdict against the Hlbernica Dominicance. But those Bishops were forced by 
the sword of terror held over their heads, by a despotic government in the reign 
of barbarous intolerance, to act as they did. The names of the prelates appended 
to the interdict were James Butler, James Keefe, William Egan, Francis Moylan, 
Daniel Kearney, John Butler, and Matthew M'Kenna. 



344 

kindred, the O'Donnels, and O'Niels, against the despotic and impi- 
ous monarch, and completely routed him and his army. 

Before the period of this discomfiture of the royal army, the saint 
incurred the displeasure of the king and his courtiers, by liis bold 
exposure of the vices of royalty, and of its sycophantic satellites, 
among whom were many of the clergy themselves. His denuncia- 
tions and anathemas were launched against them with a tremendous 
power of eloquence. These had the most salutary and moral effects 
— they terrified the provincial princes into mildness and justice, and 
induced them to adopt a more clement and equitable system of 
government, and to act more conformably to the benign spirit of the 
Christian dispensation. 

"Such among the clergy," writes Colgan, "as were precipitate, 
or prone to worldly aifairs, he soon curbed — such as were indolent 
he roused — such as were addicted to luxury, he severely reprimand- 
ed — the weak and the wavering he strengthened — the vicious he 
reformed. In short, the oppressed he abetted — the haughty he 
humbled, and the vicious he repressed." 

How could such a rigid, moral censor as this, escape the malice 
and revenge of the persons against whom he hurled the shafts of 
reproof? The princes and priests whom he reprobated, exerted all 
their influence against him, and gained so far their object, as to 
have him unjustly excommunicated. But he was not long a sufferer 
under the anathema which was procured by a conspiracy of princes 
and priests. 

A synod was held in Birr, in the King's county, of all the princi- 
pal clergy of Ireland, in 544, to which our saint repaired, in order 
to vindicate his character from the odium which the malignity of his 
enemies had heaped upon it. 

When he approached the hall of deliberation, St. Brendan rose 
from his seat, and advanced to embrace him. All the clergy present, 
indicated their astonishment at this act of condescension to an 
excommunicated person. As soon as St. Brendan conducted 
Columba to a seat, he observed to the elders — "Do not wonder at 
this deference to a personage of such sanctity and learning as St. 
Columb-Kille. His tears, remorse, and repentance, have blotted 
out his transgressions from the anger of God. Had Jesus vouch- 
safed to manifest to you, venerable fathers, what he has revealed to 
me, you would not have dishonoured the man whom the Almighty 
has preordained to fill the folds of religion and grace with flocks of 
the faithful. Behold ! the royal prophet, and the glorified saint, who 
is to conduct the whole Heathen people of Albania unto the paradise 
of eternal salvation!" 

Columb-Kille then proceeded to extenuate his conduct ; but in the 
course of his speech, he expressed his sincere sorrow for the blood- 
shed and commotions which his choleric passion gave birth to; 
pledging himself at the same time, to submit to any penance the 
synod might think proper to impose upon him for his transgressions. 

No sooner had he expressed his contrition for what had happened, 
than the entire assembly simultaneously rose to greet him. The 
saints, Finian and Molaise, after a short consultation told our saint 



345 

that the penance he would have to perform, in order to atone for 
his sins, was, that he must in foreign climes, by preaching piety and 
sanctity, bring as many souls into the church of Christ, as those 
which the war he fomented and occasioned had hurried, perhaps 
unprepared, before the tribunal of heaven. As soon as this was 
announced to him, he with a joyful heart replied — "This penance 
is so just and equitable that I shall cheerfully undertake it, in the 
hope that God will forgive my sins and enable me to satisfy him by 
ray performance of it." 

The conduct of our saint furnishes a notable instance of the 
progress of the soul, from weakness to strength — from frailty to 
perfection. The violence of his temper and the stubborn unbending 
spirit that led him to excite war and civil commotions now sink in 
in the serene sanctity of the repenting saint. The facility with 
which he submitted to his sentence — a sentence that expatriated 
him from the land of his nativity, over which his parents and relatives 
held sovereign sway, exemplifies the characteristic virtues of the 
primitive Divines of Ireland. What a noble example of self-denial 
and resignation has our royal saint exhibited in this instance. 

Had he not divested himself of the coil of the passions and listened 
to the admonitions of conscience, he might have set the decrees of 
the synod of Birr at defiance ; for the O'Neils, O'Donncls, McLough- 
lins and Kinsellagiis, the most powerful regal septs, and all his 
blood relations in Ireland, were burning with ardour and impatience 
to avenge the wrongs under which they thought the holy jxian had 
unjustly suffered. His exile, therefore, though caused by a public 
ecclesiastical censure, must be still considered as a voluntary act 
arising from a conviction that he had merited to the fullest extent, 
the severity of this reproof and the punishment annexed to it. Con- 
scious of the evils that almost invariably result from an ardent and 
passionate temper, when connected with power, and yielding to the 
influence of returning grace, that divine emanation of the soul that 
not only renders us sensible of our faults, but prompts us to atone 
for them, he passed over to Scotland, where he devoted the remain- 
der of his life to the conversion and civilization of a people who 
were then, comparatively, as Dr. Johnson has verified, engulphed 
in gross barbarism. 

The obligations, however, which the Christian religion owes to 
Columba, must not be estimated by the numerous converts that he 
and his immediate disciples brought over to the Christian church. 
To him must also be attributed in a great measure the conversions 
effected by his disciples and successors. 

He it was, that inspired them with that fervent sanctity and apos- 
tolic perseverance, which crowned their ministry with a success 
unexampled in the age in which they flourished. In addition to the 
testimony of Bede to the learning, eloquence, and zeal of the follow- 
ers and successors of the brilliant luminary of the Irish church, we 
feel proud of adducing the corroborating evidence given by the 
ablest and most philosophic of living historians (Dr. Lingard) in his 
history of the Anglo Saxon church. " From the monastery of St. 
Columba at lona, came Aidan, the successful apostle of Northumbria. 
44 



346 

During the course of his labours, the missionary kept his thougfhts 
fixed on his patron and countryman, St. Cohnnb-Rille, and after 
his example requested permission to retire from the Court and 
fix his residence in some lonely island, where his devotions might 
not be interrupted by the follies and vices of men. His peti- 
tion was granted. Lindins Farn, at a small distance from the 
Northumbrian coast, was peopled with a colony of Irish Monks. 
The successors of Aidan rapidly extended the monastic institute 
throughout the kingdom of Bernicia, and Deira Mercia, and east 
Anglia. Bede, in different parts of his works, has borne the most 
honourable testimony to their virtue — with a glowing pencil he dis- 
plays their patience, their chastity, their frequent meditation on the 
sacred writings, and their indefatigable efforts to attain the summit 
of Christian perfection. 

They chose for their habitation the most dreary situations : no 
motives but those of charity could draw them from their cells : and 
if they appeared in public their object was to reconcile enemies, to 
instruct the ignorant, to discourage vice, and to plead the cause of 
the unfortunate. The little property which they enjoyed was com- 
mon to all — poverty they esteemed as the surest guardian of virtue, 
and the benefactions of the opulent they respectfully declined, or 
instantly employed in relieving the distress of the indigent. One 
only stain did Bede discover in their character, an immoderate esteem 
for their Milesian forefathers — which prompted them to prefer their 
own customs to the consent of all other Christian churches; "but 
this, he piously trusted, would disappear in the bright effulgence of 
their virtues." 

But let us return to the synod of Birr, and the departure of St. 
Columba on his mission to Caledonia. The saints and fathers at 
this clerical convocation, after giving their blessing to Columba, also 
consented that he should be assisted in his mission by twelve erudite 
and pious ecclesiastics whom he had nominated for their approval. 
The names of these saintly missionaries or Culdees* are recorded by 

^ Various and ridiculous are the opinions of the Scottish writers respecting the 
derivation of the term C'uldee. Our countryman, the learned Toland, in his history 
of the Druids, deduces the name from Keille De, which imports in Irish, the con- 
sorts of God. Dr. Shaw contends its proper etymology is Keil De, or the servants 
of God. Bishop Nicholson says that its derivation is found in the Cool duhh, or 
the black hood. But though these celebrated antiquarians were very able Greek 
and Latin scholars they were but indifferent Etymologists. The late Rev. Paul, 
O'Brien, who was Professor of the Irish language in the College of Maynooth, 
and whose premature death our vernacular literature must ever deplore, in com- 
menting on the foregoing definitions, observed, — " these writers had, evidently, 
but a slight acquaintance with our native dialect, or they would have known that 
the C, and G, are commutable letters, and that in classic Irish the devout followers 
of Columb-Kille were denominated Giollti. De, i. e. the servant of God, as Gioallo 
Columb-KiUe, the servant of the Dove of the Church ; Giolla Chreest, the servant 
of Christ." 

The Saint and Bard-claiming Macpkerson, has written several essays to prove 
that St. Columba and his Culdees, notwithstanding the positive evidence of For- 
dun, Boethius and Buchanan, were Caledonians. But the elegant antiquarian 
Dr. Smith, one honest Scot, who was too proud to despoil the temple of our sacred 
antiquities, says in the preface of his Gaelic dictionary — " The Culdees were of the 
Irish rule, and carried into Scotland by the famous Columba, and from thence 
dispersed into the northern parts of England." The illustrious author of the 



347 

Hector Bcethius in his history of Scotland. " With St. Columb- 
Kille," said the father of Caledonian history, " there came from 
Ireland twelve men eminently imhued with the doctrine of Christ 
and more so with piety and righteousness — their names were Baathan, 
Cummins, Cobthac and Ethernene, both nephews of the saint, Burins 
and Fethus, divines of illustrious descent. Two priests of the royal 
dynasty of O'Neil, and lastly Scanlan, Eglodeus, Tataneus Motcfar 
and Gallan ; all of whom, by their argumentation, prediction and 
writing, instructed the Picts and Caledonians in tiie soul-saving 
science of virtue, morality, and true religion." We also find by a 
relation of St. Columba's mission in Fordun's " Scotic Cronicon" 
that our saint was accompanied by St. Coustantine, king of Corn- 
wall, who, through the representations and censures of St. Gildas, 
of his crimes and enormous impiety, had been induced to become a 
penitent, and to repair to Ireland in order to place himself under 
the spiritual guidance of our saint. 

Shortly after Columba's arrival in Caledonia, his cousin Connell, 
king of the Dal Riada, gave him a grant of the Island of Hy, or 
Io7ia, in which he built a monastery that afterwards became as 
famous for the learning and sanctity of its ecclesiastics, as for its 
grounds being the burial place of some of the kings of Ireland, 
Scotland, and Norway. 

The celebrated island of Icoloumb-kille "that illustrious ground 
that was once dignified by learning and consecrated by piety," is 
separated from the isle of Mull, by a narrow channel, and is about 
three miles in length, and one in breadth. In 1819, by a statement 
in an Edinburgh periodical, it contained seventy houses occupied by 
386 inhabitants. The decayed and dilapidated Fanes, at whose 
mouldering altars Kings and Queens worshipped the God of the 
universe, present still in the aspect of their ruin and desolation noble 
and aflfecting traces of the Gothic grandeur that once rose here in 
the solemn majesty of architecture. In the middle of St. Columba's 
cathedral, on which Dr. Johnson wrote as eloquent a passage as 
any in the English language, stands a Gothic tower three stories 
high, and supported by four large arches. This cathedral is encir- 
cled by piles of magnificent ruins, in one of which are the three 
dilapidated tombs, each bearing on a marble tablet, an inscription. 
The tomb that contains the remains of forty-eight kings of Scotland, 
is inscribed, " Tumulus regum Scotiae,'" that in which four Irish 
monarchs were interred, has the inscription " Tumulus region Iliber- 
niae,'^ and the sepulchre of three Norwegian kings, who were buried 
here is marked " Tumulus rcgum Norwegia." 

But the famed piety and erudition which gave such illustrious 

pleasures of Hope, in a note to one of his poems coincides in the opinion of Dx. 
Smitli. 

Dr. Ledwich, the unnatural and unpatriotic asperser of the ancient glory and 
greatness of his native land, says of St. Columba and his successors in lona — " For 
his Monks, he established such admirable rules, that they soon became as conspicu- 
ous for erudition as for sanctity of manners, and were thenceforward distinguished 
by the honourable appellation of Culdees, or the ministers of God." This is the 
only instance we believe in which the venal apostate, Dr. Ledwich, spoke as a 
true-born Irishman should, in vindication of his country. 



348 

eminence to lona, have been already immortalized by the genius of 
relijsjious and poetic inspiration. 

The sanctity of the place, by a prophecy of St. Columb-Kille, 
made it for many centuries the most renowned cemetery in the 
world. A king of France, in the ninth century, made a pilgrimage 
to the shrine of Cohimba, in order to select the site of his grave in 
the holy ground of lona. In the elegant translation of the great 
Scotch antiquary, the late Rev. Dr. Smith, of Cambeltovvn, we find 
the following English version of our Saint's prophecy, relating to 
his beloved isle. 

" Seven years before the awful day, 

When lime shall be no more, 
A watery deluge shall o'ersweep 
Hibernia's grassy shore. 

The green-clad isle too shall sink, 

Whilst with the great and good, 
Columba's happy Isle shall rear 

Her towers above the flood." 

We conclude our brief biography of St. Columb-Kille by the 
following extract from Moore's history of Ireland. 

"During this, his last sojourn in Ireland, Columba visited all the 
various religions establishments which he had founded; passing 
some time at his favourite monastery at Dairmagh, and there devo- 
ting himself to the arrangement of matters connected with the 
discipline of the church. After accomplishing, to the best of his 
power, all the objects he had in view in visiting Ireland, he returned 
to his home in North Britain, — to that "Isle of his heart," as, in 
some prophetic verses attributed to him, lona is called,* — and there, 
assiduous to the last in attending to the care of his monasteries and 
numerous churches, remained till death closed his active and benefi- 
cent course. The description given of his last moments by one who 
received the details from an eye-witness, presents a picture at once 
so calm and so vivid, that I shall venture, as nearly as possible in 
the words of his biographer, to relate some particulars of the scene.t 
Having been forewarned, it is said, in his dreams of the time when 
his death was to take place, he rose, on the morning of the day 
before, and ascending a small eminence, lifted up his hands and 

'' '• In the Isle of my heart, the Isle of my love, instead of a monk's voice there 
shall be lowing of cattle. But, ere the world comes to an end, lona shall flourish 
as before." — Cited in J]rmstroiig''s Gaelic Dictionary. Dr. Johnson appears to 
have been animated with a similar spirit of prophecy respecting this island. 
"Perhaps," says the moralist, "in the revolutions of the Avorld, lona may be, 
some time again, the instructress of the western regions." (Jotirneij to the West-' 
em Islands.) 

t Post hffic verba de illo dicens (descendens) monticellulo, et ad monasterium 
revertens, sedebat in tugurio Psalterium scribens; et ad ilium tertii Psalmi versi- 
eulum perveniens, ubi scribitur, Inquirentes autem Dominum non deficient omni 
bono, Hie, ait, in fine cessandum est paginas; quas vero sequuntiir Baitheneus 
scribat. . . . Interim ceetus monachorum cum luminaribus accurrens, Patre vise 
moriente, caepit plangere ; et ut ab aliquibus qui pra?sentes inerant didicimus, 
Sanctus, necdum egrediente anima, apertis sursum oculis, ad utrumque latus cum 
mira hilaritate et lastitia circumspiciebat. . . . Diermitius tum Sancti sanctum 
sublevat, ad benediciendum monachorum chorum, dexteram manum : sed et ipse 
venerabilis Pater in quantum poterat, suara simul movebat manum. — Adamnan, 
lib. iii. cap. 3. 



349 

solemnly blessed the monastery. Returning from thence, he sat 
down in a hut adjoining, and there occupied himself in copying part 
of the Psalter, till, having finished a page with a passage of the 
thirty-third Psalm, he stopped and said, "Let Baithen write the 
remainder." This Baithen, who was one of the twelve disciples 
that originally accompanied him to Hy, had been named by him as 
his successor. After attending the evening service in the church, 
the Saint returned to his cell, and, reclining on his bed of stone, 
delivered some instructions to his favourite attendant, to be commu- 
nicated to the brethren. When the bell rang for midnight prayer, 
he hastened to the church, and was the first to enter it. Throwing 
himself upon his knees, he began to pray — but his strength failed 
him ; and his brethren, arriving soon after, found their beloved 
master reclining before the altar, and on the point of death. As- 
sembling all around him, these holy men stood silent and weeping, 
while the Saint, opening his eyes, with an expression full of cheer- 
fulness, made a slight movement of his hand, as if to give them his 
parting benediction, and in that effort breathed his last, being then 
in the seventy-sixth year of his age. 

" The name of this eminent man, though not so well known 
throughout the Latin church as that of another Irish Saint, Colum- 
banus, with whom he is frequently confounded,* holds a distinguished 
place among the Roman and other rnartyrologies, and in the British 
Isles will long be remembered with traditional veneration. In 
Ireland, rich as have been her annals in names of saintly renown, 
for none has she continued to cherish so fond a reverence, through 
all ages, as for her great Columb-Kille ; while that Isle of the 
Waves, t with which his name is now inseparably connected, and 
which, through his ministry, became "the luminary of the Caledo- 
nian regions,"! has far less reason to boast of her numerous Tombs 
of Rings, than of those heaps of votive pebbles left by pilgrims on 
her shore, marking the path that once led to the honoured Shrine 
of her Saint.<§, So great was the reverence paid to his remains in 
North Britain, that, at the time when the island of Hy began to he 
infested by the Danes, Kenneth III. had his bones removed to 
Dunkeld on the river Tay, and there founding a church, dedicated 
it to his memory; while the Saint's crosier, and a few other relics, 
were all that fell to the share of the land of his birth. || 

* Among the writers who have been led into this confusion is M. Thierry, 
(Ilist. de la Conquete de I'Angleterre) who, in pursuance of his professed object, 
— that of making his history picturesque, — has jumbled together the lives of the 
two saints most graphically. 

t Such, according to some writers, is the meaning of the term lona. — See Gar- 
neti's Tour in the Highlands, vol. i. 

X " We were now treading that illustrious island, which was once the luminary 
of the Caledonian regions. That man is little to be envied, whose patriotism 
would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow 
warmer upon the ruins of lona." — Dr. Jolinsun s Journeij to the Western Islands. 

§ " The Port na Curachan, where Columba is said to have first landed; — a bay 
towards the West, which is marked by large conical heaps of pebbles, the peni- 
tentiary labours, as tradition says, of pilgrims to his shrine." — MaccuUoch's West- 
ern Isles: 

II Among the various prophecies attributed to St. Columba, the arrival of the 
English and their conquest of the country were, it is said, foretold by him. 



350 

"In the Annals of the Four Masters, for the year 1006, we find 
mention made of a splendid copy of the Four Gospels, said to have 
been writlen by St. Coluoiba's own hand, and pret^erved at Kelts in 
a cover, richly ornamented with gold. In the time of Usher, this 
precious nianiiscript was still numbered among the treasures of 
Kells;* and if not written by Columba himself, is little doubted to 
have been the work of one of his disciples. 



CHAPTER LI. 

Biographical sketches of St. Bridgid and St. Coluwhanus. 

Mr. Moore in narrating the events of those Saints lives has 
displayed them under a brief, but luminous compendium. He says, 
" To give an account of all the numerous saints, male and female, 
whom the fervent zeal of this period quickened into existence and 
celebrity, would be a task so extensive as to require a distinct histo- 
rian to itself; and, luckily, this important part of Ireland's history, 
during her first Christian ages, has been treated fully, and with the 
most sifting zeal and industry, by a writer in every respect qualified 
for such a task, and who has left no part of his ample subject 
untouched or unexplored.! Referring, therefore, to this learned 
historian for a detailed account of the early Irish church, I shall 
notice such only of its most distinguished ornaments as became 
popularly known throughout Europe, and regained for the " Sacred 
Island" of other days, all its ancient fame, under the new Christian 
designation of " the Island of Saints." 

" The institution of female monasteries, or nunneries, such as, in 
the fourth century, vvere established abroad by Melania, and other 
pious women, was introduced into Ireland, towards the close of the 
fifth century, by St. Brigid ; and so general was the enthusiasm her 

"Then," says Giraldus, "was fulfilled the alleged prophecy of Columba, of 
Hibernia, who long since foretold that, in this war, there should be so great a 
slaughter of the inhabitants, that their enemies would swim up to the knees in 
their blood." {Hibern. Expugnot. lib. ii. cap. 16.) There is yet another remarka- 
ble passage of this prophecy, which adjourns its fulfilment to a very remote 
period. — " The Irish are said to have four prophets, Moling, Braccan, Patrick, and 
Columb-Kille, whose books, written in the Irish language, are still extant; and 
speaking of this conquest, (by the English,) they all bear witness that in after 
times the island of Ireland will be polluted with many conflicts, long strife, and 
much slaua:hter. But they all pronounce that the English shall not have a com- 
plete victory till but a very little before the day of judgment." " Omnes testantur 
eam crebris conflictibus, longoque certamine multa in posterum tempora multis 
CEedibus fcedaturam. Sed vix parum ante diem judicii plenam Anglorum populo 
victoriam compomittunt." — {lb. cap. 33.) 

* This Kells manuscript is supposed to have been the same now preserved in 
the library of Trinity College, Dublin, on the margin of which are the following 
words, written by O'Flaherty, in the year 1G77:— " Liber autem hie scriptus est 
matiu ipsius B. Columbse." 

t Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, by the Rev. John Lanigan, D. D. 



351 

example excited, that the religious order which she instituted spread 
its branches through every part of the country. Taking the veil 
herself at a very early age, when, as we are told, she was clothed ia 
the white garment, and the white veil placed upon her head, she 
was immediately followed, in this step, by seven or eight other young 
maidens, who, attaching themselves to her fortunes, formed, at the 
first, her small religious community.* The pure sanctity of this 
virgin's life, and the supernatural gifts attributed to her, spread the 
fame she had acquired more widely every day, and crowds of young 
women and widows applied for admission into her institution. At 
first she contented herself with founding establishments for her 
followers in the respective districts of which they were natives; and 
in this task the bishops of the different dioceses appear to have con- 
curred with and assisted her. But the increasing number of those 
who required hev own immediate superintendence rendered it neces- 
sary to form some one great establishment, over which she should 
herself preside ; and the people of Leinster, who claimed to be pecu- 
liarly entitled to her presence, from the illustrious family to which 
she belonged having been natives of their province, sent a deputation 
to her, to entreat that she would fix among them her residence. To 
this request the saint assented; and a habitation was immediately 
provided for herself and her sister nuns, which formed the com- 
mencement both of her great monastery and of the town or city of 
Kildare. The name o( Kill-dara,f or Cell of the Oak, was given to 
the monastery from a very high oak-tree which grew near the spot, 
and of which the trunk was still remaining in the twelfth ceniury ; 
— no one daring, as we are told by Giraldus, to touch it with a 
knife. The extraordinary veneration in which St. Brigid was held, 
caused such a resort of persons of all ranks to this place — such 
crowds of penitents, pilgrims, and mendicants — that a new town 
sprang up rapidly around her, which kept pace with the growing 
prosperity of the establishment. The necessity of providing spiritual 
direction, as well for the institution itself, as for the numerous settlers 
in the new town, led to the appointment of a bishop of Kildare, with 
the then usual privilege of presiding over all the churches and 
communities belonging to the order of St. Brigid, throughout the 
kingdom. 

" Among the eminent persons who were in the habit of visiting 
or corresponding with this remarkable woman, are mentioned St. 
Ailbe, of Emly, one of the fathers of the Irish church, and the 
Welsh author, Gildas, who is said to have sent to St. Brigid, as a 
token of his regard, a stnall bell cast by himself | By one of those 

* The bishop who admitted her into the Kumber of Sacred Virgins, was nameci 
Maccaile, or Maccaleus; and the ceremony is thus described by her biographer,. 
Cogitosus : — " Qui (Maccaleus) caeleste intuens desiderum et pudicitiam, ettantum 
tastitatis amorem in tali virgine, pallium album et vestem candidam super ipsius 
venerabile caput imposuit." — Cap. 3. 

t Ilia jam cella Scotice dicitur Kill-dara, Latine vero sonat Cella Quercus, 
Quercus enim altissima ibi erat, cujus stipes adhuc manet. — S. Brigid. Vita. 

t A veneration for small portable bells, as well as for staves, which had once 
belonged to holy persons, was, in the time of Giraldus, common both among the 
laity and clergy. " Campanus baiulas, baculos quoque in superior! parte camera- 
tos, auro et argento vel sere contectos, aliasque hujusmodi sanctorum reliquias, in 



352 

violations of chronology not unfrequently hazarded for the purpose 
of bringing extraordinary personages together, an intimate friend- 
sliip is supposed to have existed between St. Brigid and St. Patrick, 
and she is even said to have woven, at the apostle's own request, 
the shroud in which he was buried. But with this imagined inter- 
course between the two saints, the dates of their respective lives are 
inconsistent; and it is but just possible that Brigid might have seen 
the great apostle of her country, a^ she was a child of about twelve 
years old when he died. 

"Among the miracles and gifts by which, no less than by her 
works of charity and holiness, the fame of St. Bridgid and her 
numerous altars was extended, has always been mentioned, though 
on the sole authority of Giraldus Catnbrensis, that perpetual Fire, 
at Rildare, over which, through successive ages, the holy virgins are 
said to have kept constant watch; and which, so late as the time of 
Giraldus, about six hundred years from the date of St. Brigid, was, 
as he tells us, still unextinguished. Whether this rite formed any 
part of the Saint's original institution,* or is to be considered but as 
an innovation of later times, it is, at all events, certain that at the 
time when Kildare was founded, the policy of converting to the 
purposes of the new faith those ancient forms and usages which 
had so long been made to serve as instruments of error, was very 
generally acted upon ; and, in the very choice of a site for St. 
Brigid's monastery, the same principal is manifest ; the old venerable 
oak, already invested with the solemnity of Druidical associations, 
having, in this, as in most other instances of religious foundation, 
suggested the selection of the spot where the Christian temple was 
to rise. 

"Having lived to reap the reward of her self-devotion and zeal, 
in the perfect success and even ascendency of the institution which 
she had founded, St. Brigid closed her mortal course at Rildare, 
about A. D. 525, four years, it is calculated, after the birth of the 
great Columb-Kille,t being herself, at the time of her death, about 
74 years of age. The honour of possessing the remains of this holy 
woman was, for many centuries, contested not only b}^ different 
parts of Ireland, but likewise by North Britain ; the Irish of Ulster 

mag;na reverentia tarn Hyberniae et Scotise, quam et Wallise populus et clerus 
habere solent." — Itincr. Camb. lib. i. cap. 2. The same writer mentions the Cam- 
pana Fugitiva of O'Toole, the chieftain of Wicklow ; and we are informed by 
Colgan (in Triad.) that whenever St. Patrick's portable bell tolled, as a preserva- 
tive against evil spirits and magicians, it was heard from the Giant's Causeway 
to Cape Clear, from the Hill of Howth to the western shores of Connemara, " per 
totam Hiberniam." See note on this subject in Hardman's Irish Minstrels, vol. i. 

* Dr. Lanigan repels indignantly the notion of Ledwich and others, that St. 
Brigid, and her sister nuns of Kildare, were '• but a continuation of heathen druid- 
esses, who preserved from remotest ages an inextinguishable fire." There is, 
however, an ordinance of Scriptural authority, in which St. Brigid may have 
found a sanction for her shrines. " The fire upon the altar (of the tabernacle) 
shall be burning in it, and shall not be put out." — Leviticus, cb. vi. ver. 12. It 
was for contemning this inextinguishable fire, and using a profane fire in its stead, 
that the Levites J^adab and Abihu were miraculously put to death. See Dr. 
Milner's Inquiry, letter 11. 

t According to other accounts, he was born about 539, — " A date much earlier," 
says Dr. Lanigan, " than that of Mebillon and others, but much more probable." 



353 

contending strenuously that she had been buried, not at Kildare, but 
in Down ;* while the Picts as strongly insisted that Abernethy was 
her resting-place ; and the British Scots, after annexing the Pictish 
territories to their own, paid the most fervent homage to her sup- 
posed relics in that city. But in no place, except in Kildare, was 
her memory cherished with such affectionate reverence as in that seat 
of all saintly worship, the Western Isles; whereto the patronage of 
St. Brigid most of the churches were dedicated : by her name, one 
of the most solemn oaths of the islanders was sworn ; and the first 
of February, of every year, was held as a festival in her honor."t 

St. Brigid, the fame of whose sanctity, the number of whose mi- 
racles, and the lustre of whose exalted virtues acquired for her re- 
spect and reverence, not only in her own country, but on the Con- 
tinent of Europe, was born in the little town of Faughard, in the 
county of Louth, t about the middle of the fifth century. " Though," 
says the learned able M'Geoghegan, " she was the fruit of a criminal 
commerce between Dubtach, a chieftian of Louth, and a young girl 
whom he seduced ; God, who knows how to draw the most heroic 
virtues from imperfection itself, atoned for the disgrace of her birth, 
by such an abundance of grace, that she became a vessel of elec- 
tion, and a model of perfection. She and many more of her com- 
panions received the veil from the hands of Machilenus, Bishop and 
disciple of St. Patrick. She then retired to Kildare, where she found- 
ed a monastery, in a forest of oaks, which was the chief of its order, 
and where she established a particular rule. Immersed in this 
retreat, the virtues of this female apostle, though exercised remote 
from the giddy gaze of the world, and its undiscriminating applause, 
shone forth with a lustre that inspired by its heat, and illuminated 
by its radiance. But the love of God, and of her neighbour, seemed 
to be the primum mobile of all her other virtues. This heat of 
divine love may be compared to the fire which she always kept lit in 
her monastery, to relieve the cold and the naked from a portion of 

'' The claims of Down to the possession of her remains, as well as those of St. 
Patrick and St. Columba, are commemorated in the following couplet, cited by 
Camden : — 

" Hi tres in Duno tumulo tumulantur in uno 
Brigida, Patricius atque Columba plus." 

t " From these considerations," says Macpherson, " we have reason to suspect 
that the Western Isles of Scotland were, in some one period or other, during the 
reign of popery, and perhaps in a great measure, appropriated to St. Brigid. — 
Crit. Dissert. 

In Gaelic, the name of Brigid, is, according to this writer, Bride ; and by He- 
brides, or Ey-hrides, is meant, he says, the Islands of Brigid. 

t Faughard, (or Fasach-ard, the grassy head-land,) the birth place of St. 
Brigid, is situated about two miles and a quarter from the town of Dundalk, the 
capitol of the county of Louth. In 638, we are informed by Archbishop Usher, 
St. Monenna erected here a convent, to St. Brigid, in which she presided over 150 
virgins. The present Protestant church stands on the site of the convent. 

There is a fine Rath, elevating its green summit to the height of sixty feet, here. 
Faughard has been the scene of memorable events of Irish history, — for it was 
there Sir John Birmingham defeated and slew Prince Edward Bruce in 1316. It 
will also ever derive celebrity from its being the battle field, in the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth, where the armies of O'Neil, Earl of Tyrone, and of Earl Mount Joy, 
the then Lord Deputy of Ireland, desperately fought and struggled for victory. 
O'Neil made a gallant retreat from that place to Newry. 
45 



364 

their miseries. It was called the inextinguishable fire, from having 
remained many centuries unextinguished ; and though, on several 
occasions, a great quantity of wood and other combustible matter 
were added to it, the ashes were never increased. 

To this miracle Cambrensis bears testimony — a testimony that is 
always given ti'emulously and partially, when Ireland can derive any 
honour from its hesitating concessions. It cannot, therefore, be cre- 
dulity to believe in anything that Cambrensis admits in favor of Ire- 
land, or its saints." 

We translate into English the Latin opinion of Cambrensis 
(Gerald Barry,) on the subject of the unextinguishable fire, which 
for ages burned in Kildare abbey. " Many and signal miracles 
performed at Kildare, a city of Leinster, which is rendered illus- 
trious by the glorious St. Bridgid, are worthy of being consigned 
to memory. Amongst the first, we may reckon the fire of St. 
Bidgid, which is said to be unextinguishable, not because it cannot be 
extinguished, but because the nuns and holy women so carefully 
nourish and supply it with new fuel, that, from the time of that vir- 
gin, through a revolution of so many ages, it has always remained 
unextinguished. And though so great a quantity of wood must have 
been here consumed, in so long a period, yet the ashes have never 
increased." 

This saint died at Kildare, according to Colgan, in A. D. 521. 
She was interred in the abbey of Kildare ; but some years after her 
death, her remains were deposited in the grave of St. Patrick at 
Down. 

So much were her eminent virtues and saintly piety regarded on 
the Continent of Europe, and so bright a halo of praise encircled her 
fame there, that churches were founded in honor of her at Seville, 
in Spain — at Lisbon, in Portugal — Placentia (Italy) — at Tours, 
Besancon, Naraur, and Cologne, (where one of the principal churches 
of the city is dedicated to her name.) A church was also dedicated 
to her memory in London. Colgan enumerates sixty religious edi- 
fices that were consecrated to her memory in the dioceses of Tuam, 
Elphin, Kildare, Dublin and Lismore. 

" It has been already observed that the eminent Irish saint, Co- 
lumbkill, has been often confounded, more especially by foreign wri- 
ters, with his namesake, Columba, or Columbanus, whose fame, from 
the theatre of his holy labours having been chiefly France and Italy, 
has, among the people of the Continent, obscured or rather absorb- 
ed within its own light that of the apostle of the Western Isles. 
The time of the birth of St. Columbanus is placed about forty years 
later than that of Columbkill, A. D. 559 ; and though not of royal 
extraction, like his distinguished precursor, he appears to have been 
of a noble family, and also endowed by nature with what he himself 
considered to be a perilous gift, personal beauty. In order to escape 
the dangerous allurements of the world, he withdrew from his native 
province, Leinster; and, after some time passed in sacred studies, 
resolved to devote himself to a monastic life. The monastery of 
Bangor, in Ulster, already celebrated in Ireland, by the subsequent 
career of St. Columbanus, rendered famous throughout all Europe, 



355 

was the retreat chosen by this future antagonist of pontiffs and kings ; 
and at that school he remained, under the discipline of the pious St. 
Congall, for many years. At length, longing for a more extended 
sphere of action, he resolved to betaUe himself to some foreign land ; 
and having, at the desire of the abbot, selected from among his 
brethren, twelve worthy companions, turned his eyes to the state of 
the Gauls, or France, as requiring especially such a mission as he 
meditated. By the successive irruptions of the nothern barbarians 
into that country, all the elements of civilized life had been dispers- 
ed, and a frightful process of demoralization was now rapidly taking 
place, to which a clergy, indolent and torpid, and often even inter- 
ested in the success of the spoilers, could oppose but a feeble check.* 
For a missionary, therefore, like Columbauus, full of courage in the 
cause of Christ, there could not have been selected a more inviting 
or productive field of enterprise. 

" Proceeding to the province which has been since called Franche 
Comte, one of the first acts of his ministry was to erect a monastery 
on a spot named Luxeuil, in a thick part of the forest, at the foot of 
the Vosges. From hence so widely was the fame of his sanctity 
diffused, and so great the concourse of persons, of all ranks, but 
more especially, as we are told, of young nobles, who came to profit 
by his instructions, and devote themselves to a religious life, that he 
found it necessary to establish a second monastery in the neigh- 
bourhood, to which, on account of the abundance of its springs, he 
gave the name of Fontaines. t In times, however, when the priest 
alone could present any effectual countercheck to the soldier, so 
active and daring a mind as that of the abbot of Luxeuil could not 
long remain uninvolved in public strife ; and his courageous frankness 
in reproving the vices of the young Thierry, king of Burgundy, 
drew upon him the enmity as well of that prince as of the fierce 
vindictive queen-dowager, Brunehaut. The details of the scenes 
and transactions in which, so perilously to his own safety, the Irish 
saint was brought into collision with these barbarian potentates, be- 
sides that they belong more properly to foreign history, would usui-p 
a space, perhaps, disproportionate to their interest. They will be 

* This state of things is acknowledged by the saint's biographer, Jonas : — " Ubi 
tunc vel ob frequentiam hostium externorum, vel negligentiam praesulum, religio- 
nis virtus pene abolita habebatur; fides tantum remanebat Christiana. Nam poen-> 
itentise medicamentum et mortificationis amor vix vel paucis in illis reperiebatur 
locis." — S. Columban Vita. 

" The clergy of the Roman church," says Mr. James, (Hist, of Charlemagnej 
Introduct.) " thickly spread over every part of Gaul, without excepting the domin- 
ions of Aquitaine and Burgundy, had already courted the Franks, even when 
governed by a heathen monarch; but now that he professed the same faith with 
themselves, they spared neither exertions nor intrigues to facilitate the progress of 
his conquests." 

t In speaking of this monastery, the Benedictines say, "Fontaines n'est plus 
aujourdhui qu'un Prieure dependant de Luxeu." On the latter establishment they 
pronounce the following eulogium : — r" Les grands hommes qui en sortirent en bon 
nombre, tant pour gouverner des eglises entieres que de simples monast.eres, re- 
pandirent en tant d'endroits le smaximes salutairies de ce sacre desert que plusieurs 
de nos provinces parurent avoir change de face. Et a qui doit revenir la prin- 
cipale gloire de tous ces avantages, sinon a leur premier Tnstiteur le B. Colum- 
ban .''" 



356 

found worthy, however, of a brief, passing notice, less as history, 
than as pictures for the imagination, in which the figure of the stern 
but simple and accomplished missionary stands out to the eye with 
the more force and dignity from the barbaric glare and pomp of the 
scenes and personages around him. 

" Thus, on one occasion, when the queen-dowager, seeing him 
enter the royal court, brought fourth the four illegitimate children 
of king Thierry to meet him, the saint emphatically demanded what 
they wanted. " They are the king's children," answered Brunehaut, 
" and are come to ask your blessing." — " These children," replied 
Columbanus, " will never reign : they are the oifspring of debauch- 
ery." Such insulting opposition to her designs for her grandchil- 
dren roused all the rage of this Jezebel, and orders were issued 
withdrawing some privileges which the saint's monasteries had 
hitherto enjoyed. For the purpose of remonstrating against this 
wrong, he sought the palace of the king ; and, while waiting the royal 
audience, rich viands and wines were served up for his refresh- 
ment. But the saint sternly refused to partake of them, saying, 
" It is written, ' the Most High rejects the gifts of the impious ;' nor 
is it fitting that the mouths of the servants of God should be defiled 
with the viands of one who inflicts on them such indignities." 

" Another scene of the same description occurred subsequently at 
Luxeuil. The monastic Rule introduced into France by Columba- 
nus, though afterwards incorporated, or rather confounded with that 
of St. Benedict,* was derived originally from the discipline estab- 
lished at the monastery of Bangor, in Ireland ; and one of the regu- 
lations most objected to, in the system followed both at Luxeuil and 
Fontaines, was that by which access to the interior of these monas- 
teries was restricted. On this point, as on many others, an attempt 
was made, by the revengeful Brunehaut, to excite a persecution 
against the saint ; and the king, envenomed by her representations, 
was induced to join in her plans. Resolved to try the right of en- 
trance in person, he proceeded, accompanied by a train of nobles, to 
the monastery ; and finding Columbanus himself at the gate, said as 
he forced his way in, " If you desire to derive any benefit from our 
bounty, these places must be thrown open to every comer." He had 
already got as far as the refectory, when, with a courage worthy of a 
St. Ambrose, Columbanus thus addressed him : — "If you endeavour 
to violate the discipline here established, know that I dispense with 
your presents, and with every aid that it is in your power to lend ; 
and, if you now come hither to disturb the monasteries of the ser- 
vants of God, I tell you that your kingdom shall be destroyed, and 
with it all your royal race." The king, terrified, it is said, by this 
denunciation, immediately withdrew. 

"A speech attributed to the Burgundian monarch, on this occa- 
sion, betrays no want either of tolerance or of the good sense from 

* See, for several instances, in which the two rules are thus confounded, Usher's 
Ecclesiar. Primord. 1050. *' Non quod una eademque esset utriusque Regula ; sed 
quod Columbani sectatores, majoris profectus ergo, duas illas celeberrimas asceti- 
CEB vitsB normas conjunxissent, quae mediis hisce temporibus in Italia, Gallia, et 
Germania solas enitebant et apparebant." — Usser. 



357 

wliich that virtue springs. " I perceive you hope," said he to Co- 
lumbanus, "that I shall give you the crown of martyrdom ; butl am 
not so unwise as to commit so heinous a crime. As your system, 
however, differs from that of all other times, it is but right that you 
should return to the place from whence you came." Such a sug- 
gestion, from royal lips, was a command; but the noble Scot was 
not so easily to be separated either from the companions who had 
followed his fortunes from home, or those friendships he had formed 
in a strange land. " If they would have me depart," said he, "they 
must drag me from the cloister by force :" — and to these violent 
means it was found necessary, at last, to have recourse ; a party of 
soldiers having been ordered by his royal persecutors to proceed to 
Luxeuil, and drive him from the monastery. The whole of the 
brotherhood expressed their readiness to follow their abbot to any 
part of the world ; but none were allowed to accompany him except 
ins own countrymen, and such few Britons as had attached them- 
selves to the community. A corps of guards was sent to escort them 
on their route towards Ireland, and it was to the commander of this 
escort, that, on their arrival at Auxerre, Columbanus pronounced 
that terrible prediction, as it has been called, of the union of all the 
crowns of France on the single head of Clotaire : — "Remember 
what I now tell you," said the intrepid monk; "that very Clotaire 
whom ye now despise will, in three years' time, be your master." 

" On the arrival of the saint and his companions at Nantes, where 
it was meant to embark them for Ireland, a fortunate accident oc- 
cured to prevent the voyage ; and he was still reserved for those fur- 
ther toils in foreign lands to which he had felt himself called. Being 
now free to pursue his ov.'n course, he visited successively the courts 
of Clotaire and Theodobert, by both of whom he was received with 
marked distinction, and even consulted on matters vital to the inter- 
ests of his kingdom by Clotaire. After an active course of mission- 
ary labours throughout various parts of France and Germany, the 
saint, fearful of again falling into the hands of his persecutors, 
Brunehaut and Thierry, whose powers of mischief their late successes 
had much strengthened, resolved to pass with his faithful compan- 
ions into Italy ; and, arriving at Milan, at the court of Agilulph, 
king of the Lombards, received from that sovereign and his distin- 
guished queen, Theodelinda, the most cordial attentions. 

" It is supposed to have been during his stay at Milan that Colum- 
banus addressed that spirited letter to Boniface IV., respecting the 
question of the Three Chapters, in which, distinguishing between the 
Chair of Rome and the individual who may, for the moment, occu- 
py it, he shows how compatible may be the most profound and im- 
plicit reverence towards the papacy, with a tone of stern and uncom- 
promising reprehension towards the pope. The decision of the 
Fifth General Council, held in the year 553, which condemned the 
writings known by the name of the Three Chapters, as heterodox, 
had met with considerable opposition from many of the Western 
bishops; and those of Histria and Liguria were the most obstinate 
in their schism. The queen Theodelinda, who had so much distin- 
guished herself in the earlier part of her reign by the vigour with 



358 

which she had freed her kingdom from the inroads of Arianism, had, 
not many years before the arrival of Columbanus at Milan, awakened 
the alarm of the Roman court by treating with marked favour and 
encouragement the schismatic bishops of Histria ; and it was only 
by a course of skilful management that St. Gregory averted the 
danger, or succeeded in drawing back this princess to her former 
union with the church. It would appear, however, that, after the 
death of that great pope, the Lombard court had again fallen oiF 
into schism ; — for it was confessedly at the strong instance of Agi- 
lulph himself, that Columbanus addressed his expostulatory letter to 
pope Boniface ;* and the views which he takes of the question in that 
remarkable document, are, for the most part, those of the schismat- 
ics or defenders of the Three Chapters. Setting aside, however, all 
consideration of the saint's orthodoxy on this point,t his letter can- 
not but be allowed the praise of unshrinking manliness and vigour. 
Addressing Boniface himself in no very complaisant terms, he 
speaks of his predecessor, pope Vigilus, with bitter, and, in some 
respects, deserved reproach ; declaring that pope to have been the 
prime mover of all the scandal that had occurred. | With na- 
tional warmth, too, he boldly vindicates the perfect orthodoxy of 
his fellow-countrymen, the Irish, assuring Boniface that they had 
never yet swerved from the apostolic doctrines delivered to them by 
Rome ; and that there had never been among them any heretics, 
Jews, or schismatics.^ 

" Having received permission from king Agilulph to fix himself in 
whatever part of the Lombard dominions he should think fit, Co- 
lumbanus selected a retired spot amidst the Apennines ; and, founding 
there the monastery of Bobbio, passed in that retreat the brief re- 
mainder of his days ; dying on the 21st of November, A. D. 615. || 

* Among other passages, to this purport, in his letter, is the following: — "A 
rege cogor ut sigillatim suggeram tuis piis auribus sui negotium doloris. Dolor 
namque suus est schisma populi pro regina, pro filio, forte et pro se ipso." 

■f The Benedictines thus account for the part which he took on this question : — 
" St. Columban, au reste, ne parle de la sorte dans cette lettre que parcequ'il etait 
mal instruit de la grande affaire des Trois Chapitres ; et qu'il avait ete sans doute 
prevenu a ce sujet par Agilulfe, qui s'en etait declare le fauteur, et peut-etre par 
quelques uns des schismatiques de Lombardie." — Hist. Litt. de la France, torn. iv. 

A letter of Pope Gregory, on the subject of this now-forgotten controversy, has 
been erroneously supposed to have been addressed to tlie Irish : — Gregorius uni- 
versis Episcopis ad Hiberniam," as the epistle is headed in some old editions of 
Gregory's works. But it is plain that " Hiberniam" has been substituted, by mis- 
take, for " Histriam," in v.'hich latter country the schism on this point chiefly 
raged. See Dr. Lanigan, chap. 13, note 57. 

\ Vigila, quia forte non bene vigilavit Vigilius, quern caput scandali ipsi 
clamant. 

§ Nullus hsereticuSjUullus Judaeus, nullus schismaticus fuit : sed fides catholica, 
sicut a vobis primum, sanctorum scilicet apostolorum successoribus, tradita est, 
inconcussa tenetur. 

II Among the poetical remains of Columbanus are soime verses of no inconside- 
rable merit, in which he mentions his having then reached the years of an eighteenth 
Olympiad. The poem is addressed to his friend Fedolius, and concludes as 
follows : — 

" Hfec tibi dictaram morbis oppress us acerbis 
Corpore quos fragili patior, tristique senecta ! 
Nam dum prascipiti labuntur tempora cursu, 



359 

" The various countries and places vvitli which the name of this 
great saint is connected, have multiplied his lasting titles to fame. 
While Ireland boasts of his birth, and of having sent forth, before 
the close of the sixth century, so accomplished a writer from her 
schools, France remembers him by her ancient abbeys of Luxeuil 
and Fontaines ; and his fame in Italy still lives, not only in the 
cherished relics of Bobbio — in the coffin, the chalice, the holly, staff 
of the founder, and the strange sight of an Irish missal in a foreign 
land* — but in the yet fresher and more every-day remembrance be- 
stowed upon his name by its association with the beautifully situated 
town of San Columbano, in the territory of Lodi. 

" The writings of this eminent naan that have come down to us 
display an extensive and varied acquaintance, not merely with ec- 
clesiastical, but with classical literature. From a passage in his 
letter to Boniface, it appears that he was acquainted both with the 
Greek and Hebrew languages ; and when it is recollected that he 
did not leave Ireland till he was nearly fifty years of age, and that 
his life afterwards was one of constant activity and adventure, the 
conclusion is obvious, that all this knowledge of elegant literature 
must have been acquired in the schools of his own country. Such 
a result from a purely Irish education, in the middle of the sixth cen- 
tury, is, it must be owned, not a little remarkable.t Among his extant 
works are some Latin poems, which, though not admissible, of course, 
to the honours of comparison with any of the writings of a classic age, 
shine out in this twilight period of Latin literature with no ordinary 
distinction. I Though wanting the free and fluent versification of his 
contemporary Fortunatus, he displays more energy both of thought 
and style ; and, in the becoming gravity of his subjects, is distinguish- 
ed honourably from the episcopal poet.§ In his prose writings, the 

Nunc ad Olympiadis ter senos venimus annos. 
Omnia prsatereunt, fugit irreparabile tempus. 
Vive, vale Isetus, tristisque memento senectas." 

* Dr. O'Connor supposes this missal to have been brought from Luxeuil to 
Bobbio by some followers of St. Columbanus : — " Ad horum vagantium (episcopor- 
um) usura, codicem de quo agimus exaratum fuisse vel inde patet, quod fuerit 
Misale portabile, quod allatum fueritseculo viimo, ex Hibernorum monasterio 
Luxoviense in Gallia, ad Hibernorum monasterium Bobiense in Alpibus Cottiis." — 
Ep. JVunc. 

t La Lumiere que S. Columban repandit par son scavoir et sa doctrine dans 
tous les lieux ou il se montra I'a fait comparer par un ecrivain du meme siecle au 
soleil dans sa course de I'orient a I'occident. 11 continua, apres sa mort, de briller 
dans plusieurs disciples qu'il avait formes aux lettres et a la piete." — Hist. Litt. de 
la France. 

The same learned writers, in speaking of the letters of St. Columbanus still ex- 
tant, say, — " On a peu de monuments des vi. et vii. sieclesou Ton trouve plus d'er- 
uditioa ecclesiastique qu'il y en a dans les cinque lettres dont on vient de rendre 
compte." 

X On voit efFectivement par la lecture de son poeme a Fedolius en particulier, 
qu'il possedait I'historie et la fable. Quoique sa versification soit bien eloignee de 
la perfection de celle des anciens, elle ne laissie pas neanmoins d'avoir son merite ; 
et Ton pent assurer qu'il y a peu de poetes de son temps qui aient mieux reussi a 
faire des vers." — Hist. Litt., 8fc. par des Religieux Benedictines. 

§ Those who are at all acquainted with the verses of this bishop, written, most of 
them, " inter pocula," — as he himself avows, in his Dedicatory Epistle to Pope 
Gregory, — will be inclined to agree that it was not difficult to surpass him in 
decorum. 



360 

style of Columbanus is somewhat stiff and inflated ; more especially 
in the letters addressed by him to high dignitaries of the church, 
where the effort to elevate and give force to his diction is often too 
visible to be effective. In the moral instructions, however, written 
for his monks, the tone both of style and thought, is, for the most 
part, easy and unpretending." 



CHAPTER LII. 

The joint reign of Hugh-Slaine and Colman, — succeededhy Hugh Uariodnach. — Ma- 
olcobha- Clearach becomes possessed of the Irish crown. — His resignation. — Elec- 
tion of Suibhre Mean. — He is defeated by Daniel, who succeeds him. — War with 
Colman, King of Ulster. — St. Fechin, Connall Claon, and his brother Ceallach, 
joint monarchs. — Defeated by Derinod and Blathmac who ascend the throne. — Ji 
fatal plague in Ireland. — The election of Seachnach. — Ulster invaded by the Picts. 
- — Kinfoaladh succeeds. — Second invasion of the Picts. — Fiona.chta is declared 
Monarch of Ireland ; who is succeeded by Loingseaach, and is slain in battle. 
A. D. 600, and 698. 

The monarch Aodh was succeeded by Aodh-slaine, the grandson 
of Connall ; but whether by the election of the national estates, or by 
the force of the sword, is not stated by our historians. 

We suppose that Colman Rinihidh, whom he associated with him 
on the throne, assisted him in ascending it. Colman was the grand- 
son of King Murtough, whose history we have already narrated. 
We are informed by the Annals of the Four Masters that, in conse- 
quence of some difference which Colman's son, Suine, had, with 
Aodh, that the latter slew the former. To revenge the death of his 
brother, Connall, the son of Colman, assassinated the monarch. Col- 
man did not long sui'vive his regal companion ; for, in the year 600, 
he fell under the sword of an assassin. As his successor, the na- 
tional estates elected Aodh Uariodnach, an appellation bestowed 
upon him, because he was subject, periodically, to be afflicted by a 
violent pain in the side. He was the grandson of the monarch 
Murtough, and he, according to the testimony of the Irish historians, 
was gifted with superior mental endowments, and other qualifications 
fitted to shed lustre on the character of a prince. He had not long 
worn the diadem, when Angus, the son of Colman, and Connall, the 
son of Aodh-Slaine, made an attempt to tear it from his brow, by 
entering into a conspiracy, and fomenting a revolt. To crush this 
insurrection, the monarch, at the head of an army, advanced to 
Odder, where, the rebels had encamped, and attacked them with 
such vigour, that they were annihilated, and their two chiefs slain.* 

* The Odder is a small hamlet town, situated in the barony of Skryne, coun- 
ty 'of Meath, at the distance of two miles south of Tara. The Barnwall family 
founded a nunnery there, dedicated to St. Brigid, in A. D. 1180, for reg- 
ular Canonesses, belonging to the order of St. Augustine. Pope Celes- 
tine III., in 1195, on being made acquainted with the piety, exemplary conduct 



361 

But scarcely had the monarch returned to his palace, to celebrate 
his triumph, ere another rebel, Maolcobha, Clearach (or the church- 
man) hoisted the standard of revolt, which called Aodh again into 
the field. The contending parties came to an engagement on the 
TpVdxnso^ Da-Fear ta, where, after a desperate struggle, the monarch 
was defeated and slain, in A. D. 606. Of the conqueror, M'Dermott, 
in his excellent history of Ireland, writes, "the appellation o^ Clear- 
ach was probably given to this prince, because he was educated for 
the church. By the death of Aodh, he exalted himself to that seat 
of turbulent power, which he preferred to the milder sway and chaster 
happiness of religion. 

He reigned three years. Some authorities say, that he fell, at the 
end of this period, by the sword of Suibhre, his successor ; but 
others assert, that he resigned the sovereign power to his successor, 
and passed the remainder of his days in the service of that church 
for which he was first intended. 

This account I am inclined to credit ; for, he who has once felt 
and indulged the sweets of religious impressions, will feel but a 
weak recompense in exchanging them for the glitter of royalty — a 
glitter that is perpetually overcast by the fears and anxieties with 
which it is surrounded." 

Suibhre Mean, the son of Fiacha, of the royal dynasty of Hy- 
Nial was invested with the regal purple, which he had not long worn, 
before Daniel, the brother of Maolcobha, lighted up the torches of 
rebellion and disaffection. 

In the commencement of Daniel's insurrection, the monarch de- 
feated his forces in two or three battles ; but the aspirant to the 
throne, determined to succeed in his purpose, was so fortunate as to 
form an alliance with Seangall, King of Ulster, who sent to his 
assistance an army of 18,000, under the command of his son Connall. 
Thus, reinforced, he waged battle with the monarch, at Fraigh- 
breene, where he gained a decisive victory, and killed Suibhre with 
his own hand, in A. D. 623. 

Daniel ascended the throne, but not with the wishes of the Irish 
people, because he waded to it through a sea of blood; and yet, strange 
to tell, some of our historians have represented him, as " a prince of 
great piety, charity, and mortifications." His reign was short : for 
his old friend of Ulster, Connall, envying his power, and arrogat- 
ing to his father's troops and his own prowess, the cause of placing 
Daniel on the throne, he resolved to hurl him from that eminence of 
royalty to which he had helped to raise him. Connall, after setting 
forth in a manifesto, his pretensions to the supreme sceptre of Ire- 
land, raised a large army, at the head of which he marched towards 
Meath; but was met by the monarch, at a place called MaigJi- 
Raith, on the borders of the counties of Louth and Meath, where a 

and charity which distinguished the friars and nuns of that convent, transmitted 
to the Bishop of Meath, a bull confirming them in all their possessions, and 
approving of their rules. By letters patent, issued under the royal seal of King 
Henry V. in 1418, the Prior of Louth was invested with the power of nominating 
the abbess of that nunnery. 

46 



362 

bloody battle took place, in which the Ultonians were totally defeat- 
ed, and their prince, Connall, slain. 

In the pride and power of victory, the monarch forcibly seized 
upon several territories, that had been long possessed by the descen- 
dants of Nial the Great, in the counties of Meath, Louth, and Mona- 
ghan. The chiefs of the Hy-Nials, at that juncture, were the sons 
of Aodh-Slaine, who, not being* able to oppose the aggressive inva- 
sion of the monarch, entreated the intercession of their kinsman, St. 
Fechin, the abbot of Fore, in the county of Westmeath. 

In compliance with their request, the saint waited on the King, 
and remonstrated with him on his arbitrary conduct to the posterity 
of the " hero of the nine hostages;" but his expostulation and en- 
treaties could not move the mind of the monarch from the path of 
despotism to that of justice. Finding the King inexorable, and not 
to be diverted from his oppressive acts, the saint, on taking his leave, 
denounced the tyranny of Daniel, and threatened him with the ven- 
geance of heaven. 

" The following night," writes M'Dermott, " a great fall of snow 
was interpreted by the imperial troops into a certain prognostication 
of the vengeance of heaven ; but an aurora borealis, which soon 
after appeared, completed their fears, so that the panic became 
general. Daniel, whether he ascribed these appearances to natural 
or supernatural causes, knew, at least, that, with regard to him, it 
mattered not which ; and, therefore, found it necessary to make 
peace with the enemy, as his soldiers would not lift a hand in his 
cause. The articles of reconciliation were soon agreed upon be- 
tween him and the Hy-Nial chiefs ; but the offended saint would not 
be so easily appeased, so that the monarch was obliged to make a 
journey to Fore abbey, and to submit to the most humiliating abase- 
ment before he obtained his forgiveness. During the last eighteen 
months of his reign, the monarch was confined to his bed. In this 
state of debility he employed himself in prayers and pious medita- 
tions, till death relieved him from his sufferings, on the last day of 
January, A. D. 639." 

Daniel was succeeded by Claon, the son of Maolcobha, who, for 
some reason, unexplained by our historians, associated with him, on 
the throne, his brother, Ceallach. 

Early in their reign, a war was waged by the Egonachts of Muns- 
ter, and the southern Hy-Nials. The cause of this war arose from a 
jealousy that was excited between St. Cartagh, the first bishop of 
Lismore, and the monks of Dunshaghlin,* in consequence of the 
saint having, while on a pilgrimage in Meath, erected an abbey at 
Rathkenny, near Navan. The piety, learning, and discipline, which 
gave so much fame to the friars of this abbey, aroused the envy and 
enmity of the monks of Dunshaghlin, who applied to Blathmac, the 

* Dunshaghlin is a pretty little village, situated in the barony of Ratoath, in 
the county of Meath, at the distance of fourteen Irish miles from Dublin. In 
A. D. 439, St. Seachlin caused a church and an abbey to be built there. The saint 
died in November, 448, and was interred in the abbey, which is now a pile of 
venerable ruins. 

The country around Dunshaghlin is highly cultivated, and rich in picturesque 
representations. 



363 

proprietor of Rathkenney to eject St. Cartagh and his monks from 
their establishment. Blathmac acceded to their request, and ex- 
pelled the saint and his brethren from their house. The Munster 
princes, resenting the indignity offered to the saint, who was of the 
family of O'Connor Kerry, marched, at the head of an army, into 
Meath to punish Blathmac for the insult offered to the saintly bishop, 
as well as his breach of hospitality. 

The contending belligerents came to an engagement, at a place 
called Carnconuil, in which, after a brave struggle, Cuan, the son 
of Amhalgaid, king of Munster — Cuan of the race of Finghin, or 
O'Sullivan — and the prince of Mi-Liathan, were slain, and their 
forces annihilated. The two victorious brothers flushed with the 
pride and ambition with which this victory elated them, came to the 
determination of making war on the monarch of Ireland, in the hope 
of wresting the diadem from his brow. Their resolution was strength- 
ened by the death of Ceallach, the brother of the monarch, Connall, 
who had, shortly after their late victory, been drowned near Trim, 
in the river Boyne. At the head of a numerous army, they march- 
ed into Meath, and attacked the forces of Connall ; obtained a signal 
victory over them, and slew the king in the battle. This conflict 
took place in A. D. 656. The victors ascended the Irish throne. 
"In their reign," writes M'Deumott, "an invasion took place from 
Britain, and a battle was fought at Pancti, where the greater part 
of the invading army was slain in the engagement with their com- 
mander in chief and thirty principal oflicers. But though the Irish 
nation had thus warded off the threats of foreign power, they were 
threatened with a more dangerous visitation from the plague — an 
enemy that would neither be subdued by power, nor softened by 
entreaty. 

Numbers were swept off by its fatal virus, and the whole kingdom 
was menaced with desolation ; nor did the monarchs themselves 
escape. It was called the " bhiddhe chonuil,^^ or yellow plague, as 
all who were attacked by it, appeared jaundiced. 

This plague is spoken of by Bede, but it would appear from his 
account of it, that it reached Ireland from Britain, while our mss. 
give room to think that it first raged in Ireland, and afterwards 
passed over to Britain." 

The contemporary provincial kings who swayed their power dur- 
ing the joint reign of Blathmac and Dermod, were the following: — > 
In Munster the sceptre was wielded by Feardomhnach or Ferdinand, 
the son of Dioma ; and Amhalgaid, of the Eugenian line, exercised 
the sovereignty of South Munster. Cuan, to whom we before alluded, 
as fallen in the battle of Carnconuil, was the son of the prince of 
South Munster, who was succeeded on the throne by his grandson, 
Aimleadha. At the same period, Fiachna held the reins of princely 
power in \J\ster, Ronan, ihe son of Colman, in Leinster ; and in 
Connaiight, RagaJIacJi, the son of Uutach. In Scotland, the Irish 
prince Eocha, occupied the throne. 

After the death of the monarch, Blathmac, his son Seachnach 
was crowned king of Ireland. Shortly after his succession to the 
throne of Ireland, the Picts invaded Ulster, tlirough which province 
they carried rapine and devastation. But their destructive progress 



364 

was at length arrested by the Irish, who attacked them at Feift, 
county of Armagh, and obtained so dear-bought a victory over themj 
that the greater part of the Irish forces fell in the sanguinary field. 
The defeated and discomfited remains of the Picts fled to their sliips, 
and hastily bore away for their own country. " We are not inform- 
ed," says M'Dermott, " who commanded the Irish army in this en- 
gagement, whence I am inclined to think, that only a small party of 
the Picts made a descent to plunder some particular district, instead 
of invading the country with a powerful army, as Dr. O'Halloran 
would have it. The cause he assigns for this powerful invasion is 
utterly improbable — namely to weaken the Caledonian Irish, whose 
settlements were continually extending in Scotland, from the sup- 
port which they received from their allies in Ulster. The Picts must 
have been blind indeed, to all sound policy, not to perceive, that a 
powerful army would be better employed in rooting out of the coun- 
try the Irish settlers, against whom they might have some hopes of 
success, than in wasting it against the force of an entire nation, to 
whose assistance alone the Irish Dalriada were enabled to keep 
their ground in Scotland. They could have little hopes of success 
against Ireland, if they were unable to cope with a iew Irish settlers 
in their own country. Soon after this engagement, though it does 
not appear that he was concerned in it, his brother, Kinfoaladh, was 
elected monarch. During the early part of his reign, the Picts 
made another descent on the northern coast of Ireland, where they 
committed the most licentious excesses. They ravaged and robbed 
the abbey of Bangor, in the county of Down, and slew, it is said, a 
thousand monks. Scarcely had the Picts been expelled from Ulster, 
ere Prince Fionachta, a daring chief, revolted against the monarch, 
and raised a formidable army which he led towards the royal 
residence. King Kinfoaladh mustered all his force, and marched 
towards his enemy. They came to battle ; the result of which, was 
the defeat of the royal army, and the death of the monarch. The 
victor Fionachta, consequently obtained the crown. As soon as he 
mounted the throne, he determined to exact by force of arms, the 
Boroihme, or Leinster tribute. 

The people of Leinster feeling justly indignant at the iniquitous 
demand of the monarch, resolved to resist it. They collected a large 
force, with which they opposed the despotic claims of the king. 
A battle took place near Kells, in the county of Meath, in which the 
king's forces were completely defeated. "In this age," writes 
M'Dermott, "not only in Ireland, but over the greater part of Eu- 
rope, the weak had no security against the lawless hand of tyranny 
and oppression, but in the protection of the clergy, to whose voices 
even despots and tyrants were generally obsequious. SeacJmach 
fell by the sword of Dubh-Duin of Aneoil Cairbre, A. D. 674." 

At this juncture, St. Moling, Bishop of Ferns,* possessed great in- 
fluence arising from his piety, learning, and exemplary conduct ; 

* Ferns, in the county of Wexford, though now a decayed village vtras, for 
ages, the royal residence of the kings of Leinster. The first bishop of the see 
was St. Edan, who flourished in the sixth century. In a future note we will 
give a more comprehensive description of Ferns. 



365 

and in order to prevent the repetition of the tragic occurrences to 
which the exaction of the Leinster tribute gave birth, he, accompani- 
ed by all his clergy, repaired to the camp of the monarch and re- 
monstrated vi'ith him on the aggression and injustice of his enforcing 
the payment of so oppressive a tax. " The monarch," says one of 
our historians, " who was a prince of great piety, acknowledged the 
justice of the saint's appeal, and declared that the Lagenians should 
be thenceforth exonerated from the payment of the tribute. Shortly 
after he formed a resolution of abdicating the throne, and assuming 
the monastic habit, but he was persuaded to relinquish this design, 
and to enter into a religious confraternity, by which he, at once, pre- 
served the crown, and indulged his propensity for religious exercises. 
The kingdom, however, derived no advantage from the virtues and 
moderation of the monarch. The Welsh, taking an advantage of his 
aversion for war, invaded the country, A. D. 682 ; and before a suffi- 
cient force could be collected, they destroyed and plundered several 
churches and monasteries, and succeeded in carrying off their booty 
with impunity. Two years after, the Northumbrian Saxons, under 
the command of Britus, spread desolation and ruin over a great 
part of the country. Their progress, however, was checked at Rath- 
inore, county of Meath ; here an engagement took place between 
them and the Irish, in which, after much bloodshed, they were de- 
feated ; and those who escaped were obliged to make a speedy 
retreat to their ships, and quickly fly the kingdom. Fionachta fell 
in battle, on the fourteenth of November, which was afterwards 
held as a festival, in honor of him, by the Irish church. Adamanus 
tells us, that during his reign, Gaul, Italy, Britain, and Ireland, 
were visited by a dreadful plague." 

To the throne, left vacant by the death of Fionachta, succeeded 
Loingseaach, his cousin-german. In the first year of his reign, A. D. 
698, a combined army of Picts and Welsh effected a landing in Ulster, 
where they committed great depredations and ravages, and succeed- 
ed in carrying off immense spoils to their ships. Emboldened by the 
success of their late predatory incursion, they again, in the year 
704, rnade another descent on the northern coast ; but the Ultonians 
marched forward to oppose them, and gallantly attacked them at 
Magh Cullin, in the county of Antrim, and defeated the invaders 
with so great a slaughter, that but few of them escaped from the 
terrible conflict. 

At this era, prince Congall, of the dynasty of Nial the Great, 
entered into a league with Ceallach of Connaught, to dethrone the 
monarch Loingseaach. Ceallach, being a valiant and skilful general, 
took the chief command of the allied army against the forces of 
Loingseaach, over whom he gained, at Cormin, in Meath, a signal 
victory. The monarch lost his life in the engagement, and his 
crown was bestowed, by the victor, to his associate, Congall. 

At this period, A. D. 706, the reigning provincial princes of Ire- 
land, were Eidirseoil in Munster, Bairche in Ulster, Bran Mac 
Connall in Leinster, and Ceallach in Connaught. 



CHAPTER LIII. 

Disputes respecting the Paschal Computation. 

Mr. Moore, in his history of a famous and memorable contro- 
versy, which so long and violently agitated the Christian world, has 
displayed such deep antiquarian reseai-ch, and illustrated and illu- 
minated the abstruse subject with so refulgent a blaze of knowledge 
and learning, that we are proud we can enrich our history with so 
inestimable a fund of information. 

" On the question respecting the time of keeping Easter, which, 
about the beginning of the seventh century, produced such a contest 
between the British and Irish clergy on one side, and the church of 
Rome and her new missionaries in Britain upon the other, some let- 
ers were addressed by Columbanus to the Galilean bishops and the 
pope ; in which, defending the Paschal system, as it had been 
always observed by his countrymen, he requests ' to be allowed to 
follow the tradition of his elders, in so far as it is not contrary to 
faith.' Though upon a point by no means essential as regarded 
either faith or discipline, yet so eagerly was this controversy entered 
into by the learned Irish of that day, and with so much of that 
attachment to old laws and usages, which has at all periods distin- 
guished them, that a brief account of the origin and nature of the 
dispute forms a necessary part of the history of those times. 

"Very early in the annals of the Christian church, a difference 
of opinion with respect to the time of celebrating Easter had 
arisen ; and it was not till the great Council of Nice, A. D. 325, had 
prescribed a rule by which the day of this festival was to be fixed, 
that, throughout the Asiatic and Western churches, a uniformity of 
practice in the time of celebrating it was observed. Owing to the 
difference, however, of the cycles, used by different churches, in 
making their calculations, it was soon found, that to preserve this 
desired uniformity would be a matter of much difficulty. By the 
decree of the Council of Nice it was fixed, that a Paschal festival 
should be held on the Sunday next after the fourteenth day of the 
first lunar month. In determining this time, however, the church 
of Rome and the church of Alexandria differed materially; the 
former continuing to compute by the old Jewish cycle of eighty-four 
years, while the latter substituted the cycle of nineteen years, as 
corrected byEusebius; and the consequence was a difference, some- 
times of nearly a month, between the Alexandrian and Roman 
calculations. 

" When St. Patrick came on his mission to Ireland, he introduced 
the same method of Paschal computation, namely, by the cycle of 
eighty-four years, which was then practiced at Rome, and which the 
apostle taught as he had learned it in Gaul from Sulpicius Severus, 
by whom a change only of the mode of reckoning the days of the 
moon was introduced into it. To this method the Irish as well 
as the British churches continued to adhere, until subsequently to 



367 

the arrival of Augustine upon his mission to Britain. In the mean 
time, the Romans, having in vain endeavoured, by conference and 
concession, to adjust the differences between the Alexandrian cal- 
culations and their own, thought it advisable, for the sake of peace, 
to try a new method ; and the cycle of Dionysius Exiguus, framed 
about 525, being in agreement with the Alexandrian method and 
rules, was adopted by them about the middle of the sixth century. 

" From the little communication that took place between the 
churches of the British Isles and Rome — owing to the troubled state 
of the intervening nations, and the occupation of the coasts of 
Britain by the Saxons — nothing was known in these countries of the 
adoption of a new cycle by Rome ; and, accordingly, when Augus- 
tine and his brethren arrived, they found both the British and the 
Irish in perfect ignorance of the reformation, which had, in the in- 
terim, been made, and computing their Easter by the old cycle of 
eighty-four years, as formerly practiced at Rome. In one particu- 
lar alone, the change introduced by Sulpicius, did the Irish church 
— to which my remarks shall henceforward be confined — differ from 
the system originally pursued by the Romans; and this difference, 
which was, in reality, rather a correction of the old Roman cycle 
than a departure from it, consisted in their admission of the four- 
teenth day of the month, as fit for the celebration of Easter, in fal- 
ling on a Sunday. The fourteenth day had long been in disrepute 
throughout Christendom, both as being the day on which the Jews 
always celebrate their Pasch, and as having been also the time cho- 
sen for that festival by the Quartodeciman heretics. But there was 
this material difference between their practice and that of the Irish, 
that, while the Jews and Asiatic heretics celebrated Easter always 
on the fourteenth day of the moon, let it fall on whatever day of the 
week it might, the Irish never held that festival on the fourteenth, 
unless it were a Sunday. The Roman missionaries, however, chose 
to keep the essential difference out of sight ; and unjustly confound- 
ing the Easter of the Irish with that of the Judaising Quartodeci- 
mans, involved in one common charge of heresy all who still 
adhered to the old Roman rule. 

" With their usual fondness for ancient usages, the Irish persisted 
in following the former rule ; and, in the spirit with which Colum- 
banus, as we have seen, took up the question against the Gallican 
bishops, he faithfully represented and anticipated the feelings of his 
fellow-countrymen. The first we hear, however, of the dispute, in 
Ireland, occurs on the occasion of a letter addressed, in 609, by 
Laurence, the successor of Augustine and his brother missionaries, 
to the Irish bishops or abbots. In this Exhortatory Epistle, as Bede 
styles it, Laurence expresses the disappointment felt by himself and 
his fellow bishops on finding that the Scots, equally with the Brit- 
ains, had departed from the universal custom of the church. The 
warmth with which the dispute was, at this time, entered into by 
some of the clergy of Ireland, appears, from a circumstance men- 
tioned in this letter, of an Irish bishop, Dagon, who, on visiting the 
Roman missionaries, refused not only to eat in company with them, 
but even under the same roof. 



368 

*' From this period the question seems to have been left open for 
more than twenty years : some few among the clergy of Ireland 
being not unwilling, as it seems, to adopt the new Roman discipline ; 
while others thought it sufficient to conform so far to Rome, as to 
substitute the 16th day of the moon, in their Paschal Canon, for 
the 14th ; and the great bulk of the clergy and people continued 
attached to their old traditional mode. At length, the attention of 
the Roman See was, in the year 630, drawn to the dispute; and a 
letter was addressed by Honorius to the nation of the Scots, in 
which he earnestly exhorts them 'not to consider their own small 
number, placed in the utmost borders of the earth, as wiser than all 
the ancient and modern Churches of Christ throughout the world ; 
nor to continue to celebrate an Easter contrary to the Paschal calcu- 
lation and to the synodical decrees of all the bishops upon earth.' 
In consequence of this admonitory letter, a synod was held in Campo- 
lene, near Old Lejghlin, where it was agreed, after some strenu- 
ous opposition from St. Fintan Munnu, of Taghmon, that Easter 
should, in future, be celebrated at the same time with the universal 
church. This decree, however, having been rendered abortive by 
some subsequent intrigue, it was resolved by the elders of the 
church, that, in pursuance of an ancient canon, by which it was 
directed that every important ecclesiastical affair should be referred 
to the Head of Cities, some wise and humble persons should be, on 
the present occasion, sent to Rome, ' as children to their mother.' 
A deputation was accordingly despatched to that city, who, on their 
return within three years after, declared that they had seen, in the 
see of St. Peter, the Greek, the Hebrew, the Scythian, and the 
Egyptian, all celebrating the same Easter day, in common with the 
whole Catholic world, and differing from that of the Irish by an 
entire month. In consequence of this report of the deputies, which 
must have been received about the year 633, the new Roman cycle 
and rules were, from that period, universally adopted throughout 
the southern division of Ireland. 

" However disproportioned to the amount of discussion which it 
occasioned, was the real importanee of the point of discipline now at 
issue, the effects of the controversy, in as far as it promoted scien- 
tific inquiry, and afforded a stimulant to the wits of the disputants, 
on both sides, could not be otherwise than highly favorable to the 
advancement of the public mind. The reference to the usages of 
other countries to which it accustomed the Irish scholars tended, in 
itself, to enlarge the sphere of their observation and proportionally 
liberalize their views ; nor was it possible to engage in the discus- 
sion of a question so closely connected both with astronomy and 
arithmetic, without some proficiency in those branches of know- 
ledge by which alone it could be properly sifted or judged. Accord- 
ingly, while, on one side of the dispute, St. Columbanus supported 
eloquently the cause of his countrymen, abroad, adducing, in 
defence of their practice, no less learned authority than that of 
Anatolius, bishop of Laodicea ; at home, another ingenious Irishman, 
St. Cummian, still more versed in the studies connected with this 
subject, produced, on the Roman side of the question, such an array 



369 

of learning and proofs as would, in any age, have entitled his per- 
formance to respect, if not admiration. Enforcing the great argu- 
ment derived from the unity of the church, which he supports by the 
authority of all the most ancient fathers, Greek as well as Latin, he 
passes in review the various cyclical systems that had previously 
been in use, pointing out their construction and defects, and showing 
himself acquainted with the chronological characters, both natural 
and artificial. The various learning, indeed, which this curious 
tract displays, implies such a facility and range of access to books, 
as proves the libraries of the Irish students, at that period, to have 
been, for the times in which they lived, extraordinarily well fur- 
nished. 

" This eminent man, St. Curamian, who had been one of those 
most active and instrumental in procuring the adoption of the Roman 
system by the Irish of the south, and thereby incurred the serious 
displeasure of the Abbot and Monks of Hy, under whose jurisdiction, 
as a monk of their order, he was placed, and who continued longer 
than any other of their monastic brethren to adhere to the old Irish 
method, in consequence of its having been observed by their venera- 
ble founder, St. Columba. In defence of himself and those who 
agreed with him in opinion, St. Cummian wrote the famous treatise 
just alluded to, in the form of an Epistle addressed to Segienus, 
Abbot of Hy ; and the learning, ability, and industry with which he 
has executed his task, must, even by those niost inclined to sneer at 
the literature of that period, be regarded as highly remarkable. 

" Though the southern half of Ireland had now received the new 
Roman method, the question continued to be still agitated in the 
northern division, where a great portion of the clergy persisted in 
the old Irish rule ; and to the influence exercised over that part of 
the kingdom by the successors of St. Columba, this perseverance is, 
in a great measure, to be attributed. It is worthy of remark, how- 
ever, that notwithstanding the intense eagerness of the contest, not 
merely in Ireland, but wherever, in Britain, the Irish clergy preached, 
a spirit of fairness and tolerance was mutually exercised by both 
parties ; nor was the schism of any of those venerable persons who 
continued to oppose themselves to the Roman system, allowed to 
interfere with or at all diminish the reverence which their general 
character for sanctity inspired. Among other instances of this 
tolerant spirit may be mentioned the tribute of respect paid publicly 
to St. Fintin Munnii, by his zealous adversary, Laserian, in the 
course of their contest respecting the new Paschal rule. A yet more 
historical instance is presented in the case of Aidan, the great apostle 
of the Northumbrians, who, though a strenuous opponent of the 
Roman Paschal system, continued to be honored no less in life and 
after death, by even those persons who had the most vehemently 
differed with him. 

" The connexion of this venerable Irishman, St. Aidan, with the 
Anglo-Saxon king, Oswald, illustrates too aptly the mutual relations 
of their respective countries, at this period, to be passed over with- 
out some particular notice. During the reign of his uncle Edwin, 
the young Oswald had lived, an exile, in Ireland, and having been 
47 



370 

instructed, while there, in the doctrines of Christianity, resolved, on 
his accession to the throne, to disseminate the same blessing among 
his subjects. With this view he applied to the Elders of the Scots, 
among whom he had himself been taught, desiring that they would 
furnish him with a bishop, through whose instruction and ministry 
the nation of the English he had been called to govern, might re- 
ceive the Christian faith. In compliance with the royal desire, a 
monk of Hy, named Aidan, was sent ; to whom, on his arrival, the 
king gave, as the seat of his see, the small island of Lindisfarne, or, 
as it has been since called, Holy Isle. In the spiritual labors of the 
Saint's mission, the pious Oswald took constantly a share ; and it 
was often, says Bede, a delightful spectacle to witness, that when 
the bishop, who knew but imperfectly the English tongue, preached 
the truths of the Gospel, the king himself, who had become master 
of the Scotic language during his long banishment in Ireland, acted 
as interpreter of the word of God to his commanders and ministers. 
From that time, continues the same authority, numbers of Scotish, 
or Irish, poured daily into Britain, preaching the faith, and admin- 
istering baptism through all the provinces over which king Oswald 
reigned. In every direction churches were erected, to which the 
people flocked with joy to hear the word. Possessions were granted, 
by royal bounty, for the endowment of monasteries and schools, and 
the English, old and young, were instructed by their Irish masters 
in all religious observances.* 

" Having now allowed so long a period of Irish history to elapse, 
without any reference whatever to the civil transactions of the coun- 
try, it may naturally be expected that I should for a while digress 
from ecclesiastical topics, and, leaving the lives of ascetic students, 
and the dull controversies of the cloister, seek relief from the tame 
and monotonous level of such details in the stirring achievements of 
the camp, the feuds of rival chieftains, or even in the pomps and 
follies of a barbaric court. But the truth is, there exist in the Irish 
annals no materials for such digression, — the Church forming, 
throughout these records, not merely, as in the history of most other 
countries, a branch or episode of the narrative, but its sole object 
and theme. In so far, indeed, as a quick succession of kings may 
be thought to enliven history, there occurs no want of such variety 
in the annals of Ireland ; the lists of her kings, throughout the whole 

* Exin' coepere plures per dies de Scotorum regione venire Britanniam atque 
illis Anglorum provinciis, quibus regnavit rex Osvald, magna devotione verbum 
Dei prsedicare. — Bede, lib. iii. cap. 3. " As these preachers, (says Dr. Lanigan) 
came over from the land of the Scots to Britain, it is plain that they came from Ire- 
land ; for the land of the British Scots was itself in Britain ; and accordingly 
Lloyd states, (chap. v. § 5.) that these auxiliaries of Aidan * came out of Ireland.' 
Thus also Fleury, (lib. xxxviii. § 19.) calls them ' Missionaires Irelandois.' " — 
Ecclesiast. Hist. chap. xv. note 103. 

It was hardly worthy of Doctor Lingard's known character for fairness, to fol- 
low the example so far of Dempster, and other such writers, as to call our eminent 
Irish missionaries, at this period, by the ambiguous name of Scotish monks, with- 
out at the same time informing his readers that these distinguished men were Scots 
of Ireland. The care with which the ecclesiastical historians of France and Italy 
have in general marked this distinction, is creditable alike to their fairness and 
their accuracy. 



371 

course of the Milesian monarchy, exhibiting but too strongly that 
unerring mark of a low state of civilization. The time of duration 
allowed by Newton, in his Chronology, to the reigns of monarchs in 
settled and civilized kingdoms is, at a medium, as much as eighteen 
years for each reign. In small, uncivilized kingdoms, however, the 
medium allowed is not more than ten or eleven years; and at this 
average were the reigns of the kings of Northumbria under the Saxon 
heptarchy.* "What then must be our estimate of the political state 
of Ireland at this period, when we find that, from the beginning of 
the reign of Tuathal, A. D. 533, to the time of the great plague, 664, 
no less than fifteen monarchs had successively filled the Irish throne, 
making the average of their reigns, during that period, little more 
than eight years each. With the names of such of these princes as 
wielded the sceptre since my last notice of the succession, which 
brought its series down to A. D. 599, it is altogether unnecessary to 
encumber these pages ; not one of them having left more than a 
mere name behind, and, in general, the record of their violent deaths 
being the only memorial that tells of their ever having lived. 

" In order to convey to the reader any adequate notion of the 
apostolical labors of that crowd of learned missionaries whom Ire- 
land sent forth, in the course of this century, to all parts of Europe, 
it would be necessary to transport him to the scenes of their respec- 
tive missions ; to point out the difficulties they had to encounter, and 
the admirable patience and courage with which they surmounted 
them ; to show how inestimable was the service they rendered, 
during that dark period, by keeping the dying embers of learning 
awake, and how gratefully their names are enshrined in the records 
of foreign lands, though but faintly, if at all, remembered in their 
own. It was, indeed, then, as it has been ever since, the peculiar 
fate of Ireland, that both in talent, and the fame that honorably re- 
wards it, her sons prospered far more triumphantly abroad than at 
home ; for while, of the many who confined their labors to their na- 
tive land, but few have left those remembrances behind which con- 
stitute fame, those who carried the light of their talent and zeal to 
other lands, not only founded a lasting name for themselves, but 
made their country also a partaker of their renown, winning for her 
that noble title of the Island of the Holy and the Learned, which, 
throughout the night that overhung all the rest of Europe, she so 
long and proudly wore. Thus, the labors of the great missionary, 
St. Columbanus, were, after his death, still vigorously carried on, 
both in France and Italy, by those disciples who had accompanied 
or joined him from Ireland ; and his favorite Gallus, to whom, in 
dying, he bequeathed his pastoral staflf, became the founder of an 
abbey in Switzerland, which was in the thirteenth century erected 
into a princedom, while the territory belonging to it has, through 

* To judge from the following picture, however, their state was little better 
than that of the Irish :— " During the last century, (the eighth) Northumbria had 
exhibited successive instances of treachery and murder to which no other country 
perhaps can furnish a parallel. Within the lapse of a hundred years, fourteen 
kings had assumed the sceptre, and yet of all these, one only, if one, died in the 
peaceable possession of royalty : seven had been slain, six had been driven from 
the throne by their rebellious subjects." 



372 

all changes, borne the name of St. Gall.* From his great assiduity 
in promulgating the Gospel, and training up disciples capable of 
succeeding him in the task, this pious Irishman has been called, by 
a foreign martyrologist, the Apostle of the Allemanian nation. An- 
other disciple and countryman of St. Columbanus, named Deicola, 
or in Irish Dichuill, enjoyed, like his master, the patronage and 
friendship of the monarch Clotaire II., who endowed the monastic 
establishment formed by him at Luthra, with considerable grants of 
land. 

" In various other parts of France, similar memorials of Irish 
sanctity may be traced. At the celebrated monastery of Centula, 
in Ponthied, was seen a tomb, engraved with golden letters, telling 
that there lay the remains of the venerable priest, Caidoc, " to whom 
Ireland gave birth, and the Gallic land a grave. "t The site of the 
hermitage of St. Fiacre, another Irish Saint, was deemed so conse- 
crated a spot, that to go on a pilgrimage thither was, to a late period, 
a frequent practice among the devout ; and we are told of the pious 
Anne of Austria, that when, in 1641, she visited the shrine of this 
Saint, so great was the humility of her devotion, that she went the 
whole of the way, from Monceau to the town of Fiacre, on foot. 
Among the number of holy and eminent Irishmen who thus extended 
their labours to France, must not be forgotten St. Fursa,| who, after 
preaching among the East Angles, and converting many from Pa- 
ganism, passed over into France ; and, building a monastery at 
Lagny, near the river Marne, remained there, spreading around him 
the blessings of religious instruction, till his death. 

"In like manner, through most of the other countries of Europe, 
we hear of the progress of some of these adventurous spirits, and 
track the course of their fertilizing footsteps through the wide waste 
of ignorance and paganism which then prevailed. § In Brabant, the 

* In speaking of the learning displayed by St. Cummian in his famous Letter 
on the Paschal question, I took occasion to remark on the proof which it affords 
of the existence of libraries, at that period, in Ireland, and by no means ill or scan- 
tily furnished. From a circumstance mentioned by the ecclesiastical historians of 
an Irish bishop, named Mark, vfho visited the monastery of St. Gall, about the 
middle of the ninth century, it would appear that the Irish were, at that time, even 
able to contribute to the libraries of their fellow countrymen on the Continent. 

t Mole sub hac tegitur Caidocus jure sacerdos, 

Scotia quem genuit, Gallica terra tegit. 

The burial-place of this Saint, who died at Centula, towards the middle of the 
seventh century, was repaired by Angilbert, abbot of that monastery, in the reign 
of Charlemagne, when the epitaph from which the above couplet is cited, was in- 
scribed upon the tomb. 

t This Saint was of royal descent: — " Erat autem vir ille de nobilissimo genere 
Scotorum." — Bcde, 1. iii. c. 19. In the same chapter will be found an account of 
those curious visions or revelations of St. Fursa, which are supposed by the Beiie- 
dictinesto have been intended to shadow forth the political and moral corruption 
of the higher orders in Ireland: — "On s'appercoit sans peine qu'elles tendent a 
reprimer les desordres qui regnoient alors parmi les Princes, les Eveques, et les 
autres ecclesiastiques d'Hibernie, ou le saint les avoit eues. Elles taxent princi- 
palement leur avarice, leur oisivete, le pen de soin qu'ils prenoient de s'instruire 
et d'instruire les autres." 

§ " In the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries (says Macpherson), religion and 
learning flourished in Ireland to such a degree, that it was commonly styled the 
mother country of Saints, and reputed the kingdom of arts and sciences. The 



373 

brothers of St. Furso, Ultan and Foillan, founded an establishment 
which was. long called the Monastery of the Irish; and the elegant 
scholar, St. Livin, whom, by his own verses, we trace to the tomb 
of St. Bavo,* in Ghent, proceeded from thence, on a spiritual mis- 
sion, through Flanders and Brabant, prepared at every step for that 
crown of martyrdom, which at length, from the hands of Pagans he 
suffered. With the same enterprising spirit we find St. Fridolin, 
surnamed the Traveller, — a native it is supposed, of Connaught, — 
exploring the Rhine for some uninhabited island, and at length fix- 
ing himself upon Seckingen, where he founded a church, and a re- 
ligious house for females, which he lived to see prosper under his 
own eyes. Next to the generous self-devotion of these holy adven- 
turers, thus traversing alone the land of the infidel and the stranger, 
the feeling of gratitude with which after-ages have clung to their 
names, forms one of the most pleasing topics of reflection which 
history affords; and few, if any, of our Irish missionaries left behind 
them more grateful recollections than, for centuries, consecrated 
every step of the course of Fridolin the Traveller, through Lorraine, 

Alsace, Germany, and Switzerland. 

* * * * * * 

" Bede mentions also, in the number of sufferers by the plague, 
some natives of England, both noble and of lower rank, who had 
retired to Ireland, as he expresses it, " to pursue a course of sacred 
studies, and lead a stricter life." It is in mentioning this interest- 
ing fact, that the historian adds, so honorably to the Irish, that they 
most cheerfully received all these strangers, and supplied them gra- 
tuitously with food, with books, and instruction.! 

" While thus from England such numbers crowded to these shores, 
and either attached themselves to a monastic life, or visited the cells 
of the different monasteries in pursuit of general knowledge, Irish 
scholars were, with a similar view, invited into Britain. The Island 
of Hy, which was inhabited by Irish monks, furnished teachers to 
all the more northern regions ; and the appointment of three na- 
tives of Ireland, in succession, to the new see of Lindisfarne, proves 
how grateful a sense of the services of that nation the Northumbri- 
an princes of this period entertained. At the time we are speaking 
of, the bishop of this see was Colman, a monk of the Columbian 
order, who had been sent from Ireland for the purpose of filling that 
high dignity. Like all the rest of the clergy of his order, he ad- 
hered to ihe Irish mode of celebrating Easter, and the dispute res- 
pecting that point received a new recruitment of force from his ac- 

Saxons and Angles sent thither many of their princes and princesses to have the 
benefit of a pious and learned education. It ought, likewise, to be acknowledged, 
that some of the most eminent teachers of North Britain received their instruction 
at the Irish seminaries of literature and religion." 

* The epitaph which this Saint wrote upon St. Bavo, and the epistle addressed 
by him to his friend Florbert, in sending him the epitaph, may both be found in 
Usher's Vet. Epist. Hiberniarum Sylloge. Of these two poems, Dr. Lanigan re- 
marks, that they " are very neat compositions, and do great honour to the classi- 
cal taste of the Irish schools of that period, while barbarism prevailed in the great- 
est part of Western Europe." — Chap. vi. § 12. 

t On this, Ledwich remarks : — " So zealous and disinterested a love of learning 
is unparalleled in the annals of the world." 



374 

cession, as well as from the scruples of the intelligent Alchfrid, son 
of king Oswin, who, while his father, a convert and pupil of the 
Irish, "saw nothing better," says Bede, "than what they taught," 
was inclined to prefer to their traditions the canonical practice now 
introduced from Rome.* In consequence of the discussions to 
which this difference gave rise, a memorable conference was held 
on the subject, at Whitby ; where, in the presence of the two kings, 
Oswin and Alchfrid, the arguments of each party were temperately 
and learnedly brought forward; the bishop Colman, with his Irish 
clergy, speaking in defence of the old observances of their country, 
while Wilfi'id, a learned priest, who had been recently to Rome, 
undertook to prove the truth and universality of the Roman method. 
The scene of the controversy was in a monastery, or nunnery, over 
which Hilda, a distinguished abbess, presided, — herself and all her 
community being favourers, we are told, of the Irish system. The 
debate was carried on in Irish and Anglo-Saxon, the venerable Cead, 
an English bishop, acting as interpreter between the parties ; and 
the whole proceeding but wanted a worthier or more important sub- 
ject of discussion to render it, in no ordinary degree, striking and 
interesting.t 

"After speeches and replies on both sides, of which Bede has pre- 
served the substance, the king and the assembly at large agreed to 
give their decision in favour of Wilfrid ; and Colman, silenced but 
not convinced, resolving still to adhere to the tradition of his fathers, 
resigned the see of Lindisfarne, and returned to his home in Ireland, 
taking along with him all the Irish monks, and about thirty of the 
English, belonging to that establishment. :j: 

" The great mistake which pervaded the arguments of the Roman 
party, upon this question, lay in their assumption — whether wilfully 
or from ignorance — that the method of computation which they had 
introduced was the same that Rome had practised from the very 
commencement of her church ; whereas, it was not till the middle 
of the fifth century that the Romans themselves were induced, for 
the sake of peace and unity, to exchange their old cycle of eighty- 

* An edifying instance of the tolerance of that period is afforded in the follow- 
ing fact, mentioned by Bede : — The Queen of Eanfled, who had lived in Kent, 
and who had with her a Kentish priest, named Romanus, followed the Roman 
Easter, while the King Oswin celebrated the Irish Easter; and it sometimes hap- 
pened, says Bede, that while the king^ bishop, &c. were enjoying the Paschal fes- 
tivity, the queen and her followers were still fasting the Lent. 

t Among other persons present at the discussion, was Agilbert, a native of 
France, who, for the purpose of studying the Scriptures, as Bede tells us, had 
passed a, considerable time in Ireland. " Venit in provinciam de Hibernia pontifex 
quidam, nomine Agilberctus, natione quidem Gallus, sed tunc legendarum gratia 
Scripturarum in Hibernia non parvo tempore demoratus." — Lib. iii. c. 7. 

t To the monastery built by Colman for his English followers, at Mayo, (Bede, 
i. iv. c 4.) a number of other monks of that nation attached themselves; and, in 
the time of Adamnan, towards the close of the seventh century, there were about 
one hundred Saxon or English saints at that place, which, from thence, was called 
by the name o? Maigh-eona-Sasson, or Mayo of the English. For this fact. Usher 
refers to the book of Ballimote : — " Quo in loco, uti Bedso, selate grande Anglorum 
fuisse monasterium audivimus, itaetiam S. Cormaci,et Adamnani tempore centum 
Saxonicorum Sanctorum fuisse habitaculum,libri Ballimotensis collector confirmat." 
— Eccles. Primord. 



375 

four years for a new Paschal system. By another gross error of the 
same party, which seems also liable to the suspicion of having been 
wilful, the Easter of the Irish was confounded with the Quartodeci- 
man Pasch, though between the two observances, as we have already 
seen, there was an essential difference.* But the fundamental error 
of both parties in the contest was, the importance attached unduly 
by each of them to a point of mere astronomical calculation, uncon- 
nected with either faith or morals ; and while the Irish were, no 
doubt, censurable for persisting with so much obstinacy in a prac- 
tice which, besides being indifferent in itself, was at variance with 
the general usage of Christendom, their opponents were no less to 
be blamed for their want of charity and good sense in raising, on so 
slight a point of difference and discipline, the cry of heresy and 
schism. 

" A dispute of a still more trifling nature, and bordering closely, 
it must be owned, on the ridiculous, was, by the English followers 
of the Roman missionaries, mixed up, throughout, with the Paschal 
question, and, in a subordinate degree, made to share its fortunes. 
This dispute related to the tonsure, or mode of shaving the head, 
practised respectively by the Roman and Irish clergy : the former 
of whom shaved or clipped the crown of the head, leaving the hair 
to grow in a circle all round it ; while the Irish, allowing the hair to 
cover the back of the head, shaved or clipped it away, in the form 
of a crescent, from the front. Both parties, with equal confidence 
and, it may be added, ignorance, appealed to antiquity in support 
of their respective tonsures; while, on the part of the Irish, the real 
motive for clinging so fondly to their old custom was, that it had 
been introduced among them, with all their other ecclesiastical rules 
and usages, by the national apostle, St. Patrick. According as their 
Paschal rule, however, gave way, this form of the tonsure followed 
its fate ; and in a Canon, the date of which is supposed to be about 
the seventh or eighth century, we find an order for the observance 
of the Roman tonsure." 



CHAPTER LIV. 



The accession of Congall, son of Feargus, to the Throne ; — succeeded by Fearghallf. 
who demands the Leinster tribute, and endeavours to exact its payment by force of' 
arms, — is defeated and killed in battle by the Leinsterians. — The reign of Fo- 
gartach, who abdicates the throne, and retires to a Monastery. — His successor 
Jlodh Ollah. — The synod of Firdalgas. — Battle of Athseanuigh. — Accession of 
Daniel HI. — The Picts invade Leinster; — i war waged between Munster and 
Leinster. — The reign of Mai II; — he is succeeded by Donachad. 

Congall was elevated to the throne, in consequence of the victory 
which he and his ally Ceallach obtained over the late monarch, 

* Inheriting fully the same perverse feeling against the Irish, Dr. Ledwich has, 
in the same manner, misrepresented them on this subject; endeavouring to make 
out that St. Columba and his successors were all Quartodecimans. See an able 
refutation of his views on this point by Dr. Lanigan, chap. xii. note 236. 



376 

Loingseaach. Some of our historians represent him as an oppressor 
of his people, and a persecuter of the church, while others paint his 
character in the brilliant colours of mercy, justice, and clemency. 
The English historian of Ireland, Dr. Warner, in allusion to the 
events occurring in the reign of that monarch, says, with a show of 
reason and truth, that " one would imagine as Christianity had been 
planted, then, in Ireland almost three centuries, and had met with 
marvellous success, that a Pagan could scarcely have been found 
among men of rank and education, in any part of the Island. Much 
less would one imagine that a Pagan prince should have any chance 
of mounting the throne of Ireland, where the monarch was elected, 
.without any regard to primogeniture, and hereditary right,- — and 
where the mass of the people had long been christians." The opin- 
ion of Dr. Warner is founded on, we think, strong grounds of pro- 
bability ; for Congall might be a christian prince, and yet be stimu- 
lated by the lust of avarice, and the pride of power, to plunder ab- 
beys, and to exercise despotism over the clergy. At this period of 
piety and religious devotion, it should be considered, when the power 
of the Catholic clergy reached the very acme of an overwhelming 
influence in Ireland, it is, in our opinion, indeed extremely impro- 
bable that Congall should have dared to despoil abbeys, or oppress 
priests. Dr. Keating characterises him as a cruel tyrant, and a fe- 
rocious oppressor of the ministers of the gospel ; but he does not 
charge him with paganism. 

After a reign of seven years, Congall died a peaceable and natu- 
ral death. He was succeeded by prince Fearghall, of the dynasty 
of Heremon. In the early part of his reign, the Welsh and Picts 
invaded the northern coast of Ireland ; — but before they had time to 
commit many predatory excesses, they were bravely attacked by 
the Ultonians, at a place called Clogh-Mimiure, in the County of 
Derry, and completely, after a fierce contest, overthrown and put to 
flight. That invasion took place, A. D. 713. 

The next event of the reign of Fearghall that demands commem- 
oration, is the attempt made by this prince, in contravention of the 
compact entered into by his predecessor, Fionachta, with St. Mo- 
ling, to exact the payment of the Leinster tribute. Murrogh Mac 
Brian, the then Ring of Leinster, indignantly refused the requisition 
of the monarch, and resolved to try the fortune of a war. The con- 
tending parties consequently, came to battle, at Almhuin, in the 
County of Wicklow, in which the forces of the monarch was van- 
quished and himself slain. The next monarch was Fogartach, who 
had scarcely reigned a year when he fell in battle by the hand of 
his successor, Cionaoth, who in his turn, was killed, A. D. 724, by 
his successor, Flabhertach, at the conflict of Drom Curan. Ulster, 
at this epoch of our history, was subject to prince Aodh Roin, who 
made himself abhorred and execrated by the nefarious acts of per- 
secution, plunder, and sacrilege, which he committed on his princi- 
pality. 

" The consecrated vessels," writes McDermott, " were sacrile- 
giously torn out of the churches by his adherents, till Aodh Ollah, a 
religious prince, stimulated by his confessor, Congus, who was then 



377 

primate of all Ireland, espoused the cause of the church. He in- 
vaded Ulster, and engaged the forces of Aodh-Roin, at Murtheimne, 
in the County of Louth, where the king of Ulster was defeated, and 
slain on the field of battle." After the monarch Flabhertach had 
wielded the sceptre for a period of seven years, he became a reli- 
gious devotee, and impelled by his pious zeal, he abdicated his 
throne in favour of his cousin, Aodh-OUah, the conqueror of the im- 
pious king of Ulster, and retired to the abbey of Armagh, to conse- 
crate the remainder of his days to prayer and penance. Here he 
resided for twenty-six years of his life of sanctity and devotion, and 
died in A. D. 760. 

At the lapse of two years after the accession of Aodh-Ollah, an 
ecclesiastical synod was convened at Firdaglas, (the country of the 
two greens) County of Tipperary,* which the monarch attended, as 
well as Cathal, king of Munster, and several other princes. 

' " The object of this meeting," writes one of the Irish historians, 
"was to enforce the regular payment of those church dues, which 
were known throughout Europe, by the name of ' Peter'' s pence,' 
but which, in Ireland, were paid to the See of Armagh. The pay- 
ment of these dues were neglected for a considerable time, but were 
now established under the sanction of the ecclesiastical and civil 
powers." 

In the course of two years after the meeting of that synod, a war 
broke out between the kings of Leinster and Munster. What the 
subject of hostilities was, has not been transmitted to us by the Irish 
historians ; let it, however, suffice to state, that both parties agreed 
to abide by the result of a battle which was fought at Ballach-Feile, 
in Upper Ossory, Queen's County. Victory declared itself for the 
Mamonians, or people of Munster. The monarch, ungenerously 
taking advantage of the feebleness to which defeat and distress had 
reduced the king of Leinster, marched against him, at the head of a 
formidable force. They came to an engagement at Athseanuigh, 
in the County of Wexford, in which the troops of the king of Lein- 
ster were cut to pieces, and himself, while gallantly leading on his 
guards, slain. It was, however, a dear-bought triumph for Aodh- 
Ollah, as several thousands of his army were killed, amongst whom 
was his son Aodh. The loss which the monarch sustained, in this 
bloody battle, encouraged prince Daniel, the son of Mortough, and 
the eleventh in descent from " Nial of the nine hostages," to raise 
the banner of insurrection, and to assail the forces of Aodh-Ollah 
with the fiercest elements of war. In the battle which ensued, the 
monarch was vanquished and killed, which paved the way for Daniel 
to the throne, which he ascended A. D. 743. 

Daniel is known, in our annals, as the third Irish King of that 
name. " During his reign," writes Dr. O'Halloran, "Leinster was 
invaded by the Picts, under the command of Cathasagh, son of Olli- 
olla, their king. The Lagenians engaged them in the battle of 

* TiRDAGLAS is situated in the barony of lower Orrnand, County of Tipperary, 
in the midst of a fine and fertile country. An abbey was erected here, in the be- 
ginning of the seventh century, by St. Colman, the first Bishop of Cloync, in the 
County of Cork. The abbey was destroyed by fire in the year 1140. 

48 



37S 

Rath-Beotach, where the Picts were defeated, and their General 
slain. 

Hostilities were soon after commenced, once more, between the 
Lagenians and Mamonians, and a battle fought at Tob-air-Fionn, 
(the white well) and so great was the carnage, on both sides, that 
the spring, with the road and lake adjoining, was discoloured with 
blood, — whence the site of the battle was afterwards known by the 
name of Cathbeallagh-cro, or the conflict of the sanguinary way. 
The monarch seems to have been a tame and inactive spectator of 
these bloody scenes; — and given up to a religious turn, attended 
more to litanies and processions, than to feats of arras. After a rule 
of twenty years, he made a pilgrimage to the abbey of Hy-Iona, in 
Scotland, where he ended his days in great piety and resignation." 

He was succeeded, on the throne, by Nial, the second son of the 
monarch, Fearghall, in the year 763. " This reign," observes Mc- 
Dermott, " was distinguished by three miraculous showers ; — one of 
blood, at Magh-Laighion, — one of honey, at Fothan-beg, — and one 
of silver, at Fothanmore. These showers are mentioned in the book 
of reigns, and in the annals of Tighernach, written in the eleventh 
century, and Mac Curtain, M'ho was not forty years dead, when O'- 
Halloran wrote his history of Ireland, affirms, that bits of fine silver, 
called twelve grain pennies, were then in being, and supposed to be 
part of this money." Although we are an enthusiastic advocate for 
our historical system, — a system so healthy and flourishing in the 
full bloom of truth and reason, that the few funguses of bardic fiction, 
which grow upon its massy and majestic trunk, cannot debase or de- 
cay it, — yet we must candidly avow that we do sincerely think that the 
above-mentioned preternatural showers never fell on the Irish soil ; 
for any man of reasoning inquiry will ascribe such an unnatural 
phenomenon to its true source — poetic imagination. But we concur 
in the justness of the opinion expressed by the Roman annalist, Sal- 
lust, that it is the duty of every historian to relate and record such 
occurrences as his predecessors, in the chair of history, have put 
forth on the ground of facts. It is under the impression, therefore, 
of the Roman historian's opinion, that we deem it our duty to quote 
Dr. O'Halloran's remarks on the s'.ipernatural subject just alluded 
to. He says, " very many uncommon phenomena seemed to pre- 
dict the approaching miseries of Ireland. In the reign of Aodh 
Slaine, the appearance of fleets and armies was seen in the skies; 
in those of his immediate successors, monstrous serpents seemed to 
float in the air. The fall of blood in the present time, seemed to 
announce their nearer approach ; this was followed by dreadful 
earthquakes in different parts of the kingdom, — and to these suc- 
ceeded so great a famine, as to carry off" numbers of the inhabitants. 
The good monarch, shocked at such accumulated miseries, resigned 
the crown, and retired to the abbey of Hy, where, after eight years 
spent in remarkable piety and austerity, he resigned his life for a 
better, and was interred there, in the same vault with his prede- 
cessor." 

The successor, on the throne, to Nial, was Donachad, the son of 
the monarch Daniel. Of the events of his reign, which lasted 



379 

twenty-seven years, we have no historical relation. It is conjec- 
tured by our most creditable historians, that the manuscript which 
narrated the transactions of Donachad's regal sway, was burned, 
with many other of our national records, by the devastating Danes, 
whose barbarous and Gothic policy it was to destroy every memo- 
rial of Milesian greatness and grandeur, and to " obliterate every 
trace and recollection of ancient times." On the death of Donachad 
A. D. 797, his cousin, Aodh the VI., was elected monarch of Ireland. 
The history of his memorable reign will occupy one of our future 
chapters. 



CHAPTER LV. 



The question discussed, — whether the Catholic Religion, established by St. Patrick, 
was the same in principle, tenor, and doctrine, as that now professed and prac- 
ticed by the Roman Catholics of Ireland ? 

We think that there never was written an abler or a more con- 
vincing refutation of the absurd and unfounded assertions of those 
who have endeavoured to maintain the groundless opinion, that the 
religion first introduced into Ireland, by St. Patrick, was not under 
the ecclesiastical control of the Pope, than that which M'Dermott 
furnishes in the following observations, — observations that are not 
only powerful in argument, luminous in diction, but forcible in logi- 
cal deduction, and overwhelming in their invincible array of un- 
questionable facts. 

He says, " in taking a retrospective view of the state and pro- 
gress of religion in Ireland since the establishment of Christianity by 
St. Patrick ; we are aware that to the generality of readers, ecclesi- 
astical has much less of interest and importance than civil history. 
Yet as both seem to be so intimately blended, that we cannot be 
perfectly acquainted with the one while we are totally ignorant of 
the other. The history of a people, at least that part of it which 
makes us acquainted with their manners, habits, and opinions, is 
best collected from a knowledge of their religion. He who holds 
with the Epicurean moralist, that this is the reign of pleasure and 
enjoyment, and he who believes with the christian divine, that it is 
only a passage to a future state, where our happiness or misery is 
to be determined by our merits or demerits on earth, will not only 
act and think differently, but present to the historian a political as- 
pect, shaded by colours that are perfectly distinct and different from 
each other. 

It has been asserted by Archbishop Usher, and Dr. Ledwich, that 
the Catholic religion was not that originally preached and estab- 
lished in Ireland. The arguments urged by Usher in determining 
this question have been examined and rejected by F. Malone, a co- 
temporary writer ; in this controversy, Malone was so successful in 
proving his point, that the R. James Usher, a descendant of the 



380 

Archbishop, afterwards became a proselyte to the Catholic religion, 
by the perusal of his work. We shall, however, state the arguments 
made use of by Usher and Ledwich on the one side, and by Dr. 
Milner, who maintains that the Catholic religion was the first estab- 
lished in Ireland, on the other, and thus enable the reader to form 
his «wn opinion on the merits of the question. 

" In treating," says Dr. Milner, " of the important subject of an- 
tiquity, which I announced at the conclusion of my last letter, I 
have to combat two principal adversaries ; persons of very different 
characters, attainments, and systems, but, nevertheless, combined 
together in the same cause, that of robbing the Irish Catholics of 
their ancient faith. These persons are Archbishop Usher and Dr. 
Ledwich, They both maintain, that the original Christianity of Ire- 
land was not Catholic, but rather the reverse of it. They are, how- 
ever, very different and inconsistent in their stories with respect to 
the source and nature of this Christianity, as will appear from the 
following abstract of their respective systems. What Archbishop 
Usher says is, in substance, this : ' Unquestionably there was a 
missionary from Rome, of the name of Patrick, who, together with 
his disciples, converted the greater part of our Irish ancestors from 
paganism to Christianity, about the middle of the fifth century. All 
history attests it, and it would be madness to deny it. But I can 
prove from the very acts of this apostle, from venerable Bede, and 
other ancient doctors of the church, that the religion then imported 
by St. Patrick was different in its essential parts, from that professed 
by the Catholics at the present liuie.' On the other hand, Dr. Led- 
wich exclaims: 'Away with the phantoms invented by confederated 
monks of the ninth century, in imitation of Mars, Minerva, and 
Juno. There never was such a man at all as St. Patrick, the apos- 
tle of Ireland : and it is certain that the Irish were converted to a 
religion the very reverse of popery, by some unknown preachers 
from Asia, long before the fifth century, when he is supposed to 
have lived ; which pure religion continued in Ireland down to the 
year 1152. As to Ware, Harris, and Primate Usher, they had not 
even a tolerable idea of our original episcopacy ;* and when they 
appeal to the testimony of Bede and the English Saxon church, in 
opposition to popery, they appeal to acknowledged papists.' I 
shall first pay attention to the arguments of the Archbishop, as they 
are detailed by Harris : after which I shall again notice the decla- 
mations of Ledwich :t the occasion, however, requires that I should 
compress both the former and the latter, together with my answers, 
into the narrowest compass possible. 

" T. It is urged by Usher, that the Christianity which prevailed in 
the age of St. Patrick, and a considerable time afterwards, could 
not be the religion of modern Catholics, because the poet Sedulius, 
in the fifth century, and our venerable Bede in the eighth, strongly 
recommended the reading of the holy scriptures. But does the 
Catholic church, in these times, forbid the reading of them 1 So 

'' See Antiquit. p. 87. 

t See a Dissertation annexed to the Life of St. Patrick. 



381 

far from that, she imposes a strict obligation of reading them upon 
all her clergy, and she interdicts the practice to none of her chil- 
dren ; she only expresses a desire, that they who apply to it, may 
have some small previous tincture of literature, or, at least, that 
they may be possessed of docile and humble minds, so as to be wil- 
ling to admit her interpretation of the many things hard to be under- 
stood* which occur in them. In the mean time, I might quote 
whole volumes of passages from the fathers! and councils| of the 
church, belonging to the ages in question, by way of proving that 
they admitted certain unwritten apostolical traditions as the word 
of God, equally with the written bible, and that they unanimously 
rejected from their communions, as heathens and publicans, all those 
who refused to hear the church in her decisions. <^ II. It is objected 
by Usher, that what is called St. Patrick's purgatory was not insti- 
tuted by the saint of that name. This I readily grant ;1| but if he 
argues from thence, that St. Patrick and the early christians did not 
believe in a middle state of souls after death, which may be assisted 
by the prayers of living christians, he is guilty of an error both in 
reasoning and in fact. It will be seen in this saint's second coun- 
cil, that he forbids the holy sacrifice to be offered up for those per- 
sons after their death who had rendered themselves unworthy to 
have it offered up for them in their lifetime.^ It will not be dis- 
puted that the writings of Bede abound with testimonies in favour 
of prayers for the dead, of purgatory, «fec.** and it is a fact that he 
himself, when he came to die, earnestly desired that prayers and 
masses might be offered up for him. ft III. It is said that St. Pat- 
rick condemned the worship of images. True, he condemned and 
extirpated the use of pagan idols ; but here is not the shadow of an 
argument to shew that he deviated from the received doctrine and 
practice of the universal church, with respect to the paying a proper 
reverence to the cross of Christ, his image, or the images or relics 
of the martyrs and saints, or with respect to the pious usage of de- 
siring the saints to offer up prayers for us. At the time when St. 

* 2 Pet. iii. 16. 

t See in particular amongst St. Patrick's contemporaries, St Basil, Lib. de 
Spir. S. c. 27. St. John Chrys. in Orat. 4. in Epist. ad Thesal. and St. Vincent of 
Lerins, in the whole of his golden work, called, " Commonitorium adversus pro- 
fanas Hoereseon novitates." 

X See in particular the speech of St. Wilfrid, commended by Bede, Hist. 1. iii. 
c. 27. also the decrees of the synods of Herudford, 1. iv. c. 5. and of Hedfield, 1. vi. 
c. 17. Sir Richard Musgrave, referring to the assertions of Usher, which he re- 
commends to the consideration of Catholics, takes upon himself to assert, that 
" until Archbishop Anselm's time, (namely, the 12th century) the Irish clergy 
were totally ignorant of the councils of the church, and derived their knowledge 
of Christianity for near 800 years from no other source but the bible. Memoirs of 
the Rebellion, p. 2. It is not by way of entering into a controversy upon ecclesi- 
astical matters with Sir R. Musgrave that I notice this revolting falsehood, but 
only by way of shewing Sir Richard's propensity to assert with the utmost confi- 
dence facts of which he is totally ignorant. 

§ Mat. xviii. 17. 

II It was set on foot by an Abbot Patrick several ages later, and was once sup- 
pressed by an order of the Pope, namely, in 1497. 

IT 2 Concil. S. Patricii, cap. 12. Spelman. Concil. p. 57. 

** Hist. 1. iv. c. 22. 1. ii. c. 19. 

ft Cuthbert in Vit. Bed. Act. Bened. torn. iii. 



382 

Patrick arrived in Ireland, he saw the cross of Christ exalted upon 
the imperial standards, and he left the great doctors of Christianity, 
a Chrysostome, an Augustine, a Prosper, and a Leo, bearing ample 
testimony to the piety and utility of all these practices.* He him- 
self is recorded as bringing over relics into these islands,! as Usher 
acknowledges St. Palladius did before him.| With respect to our 
native historian and theologian, venerable Bede, whom Usher ap- 
peals to, he describes St. Augustine of Canterbury preaching the 
gospel to king Ethelbert, with the cross for an ensign, and the figure 
of Christ for an emblem ;§ he represents the same saint consecrating 
pagan temples with holy water and relics, 1| and offering up homage 
to God by the sacrifice of the mass.^ With respect to images in 
particular, venerable Bede proves that God did not interdict the 
total use of them, by his commanding the figures of cherubim and 
oxen to be placed in the temple: ' for certainly,' he adds, ' if it 
was lawful to make twelve oxen of brass to support the brazen sea, 
it cannot be amiss to paint the twelve apostles going to preach to 
all nations.'** IV. We are told that the liturgy of St. Patrick dif- 
fered from that of the Roman church. It is not, however, proved 
to have differed, in the smallest tittle, from that which was followed 
at Rome when St. Patrick received his mission ; much less is it 
proved to have deviated in any point which is essential to the nature 
of the sacraments and sacrifice of the church in all ages and coun- 
tries. That the Catholic liturgies of all times and countries have 
been essentially the same in this respect, is abundantly proved by 
divines and canonists.ft Nevertheless, it is to be remarked that a 
certain latitude in mere ceremonies and particular devotions, has 
always been allowed to great or national churches, under the regu- 
lation of their head pastors. St. Gregory permitted our apostle, St. 
Augustine, to adopt any usages of this nature for the infant church 
of the English, which he might choose to borrow from the French 
or other Catholic nations ;|t and the court of Rome, at the present 
day, so far from requiring the orthodox Greeks, who have colleges 
thei'e, to conform to her ritual in these unessential points, obliges 
them to adhere to their own. V. It appears that the mass was 
sometimes, in former ages, said by the Irish clergy at night. So it 
was, in the same ages, and on the same occasions, namely, on the 
eves of certain great festivals, by the clergy of every other Catholic 
country. It is still said by us at midnight on Christmas night. In 
the mean time, we learn from Bede, that nine of the clock in the 
morning was the usual time of saying it.§§ VI. Bede and Cogito- 
sus speak of ' the sacrament of the Lord's body and blood :' whence 
it appears that the sacrament was in ancient times administered in 
both kinds. I answer, that the Catholics use the same language at 
the present day, though the laity receive the sacrament only under 

* See the Liturgy of St. Chrysost. Aug. Serm. 25, de Sanctis, &c. Prosper de 
Vita Contemplat. c. 4. Leo Serm. de S. Vine. 

t Jocelin, cap. 166. | Primord, p. 812. § Lib. i. c. 25. 

II Lib. i. c. 26. IT Lib. i. c. 30. ** De Templo Salom. cap. 19. 

tt See Explication de la Messe, par le Brun, Goarius, Marinus, &c. 

tt Hist. Eccl. 1. i. e. 27. § § Hora tertia. Hist. Eccl. 1. iv. c. 22. 



383 

one kind ; that the difference of receiving it under one or under 
both kinds, is a mere point of discipline, which may be, and has 
been, changed, as the circumstances»of time and place required; 
and that, nevertheless, the present practice of the church, in com- 
municating to the laity under the form of bread alone, was the prac- 
tice of our infant English church, as appears from Bede himself.* 
In the mean time, we are to observe that this illustrious doctor of 
the English church, at the beginning of the ninth century, expressly 
teaches, not only that the mass is a true sacrifice, in which Christ is 
truly and really present, but also, that a true and proper change or 
transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of 
Christ takes place in it. I will transcribe his words in the margin, 
and I defy the subtlety of the most ingenious conli'overtist of your 
acquaintance to give them any other meaning than that which I have 
assigned. t VII. Archbishop Lanfranc complains, that the Irish 
neglected the use of chrism in baptism, or did not make use of it in 
a proper manner, and that a single bishop amongst them was accus- 
tomed to consecrate another bishop, without the presence of two 
others, as the council of Nice requires. But what trifling, Sir, is 
this ! For since it is evident that Lanfranc did not, on this account, 
deny the validity of the Irish baptisms and orders ; and since both 
Catholics and Protestants are agreed that chrism is not essential to 
baptism, nor the presence of three bishops to consecration, it is plain 
that the diversity in question neither was, nor was considered to be, 
a sufficient ground for the rest of the church to break off communion 
with the prelates of this island. VIII. In order to prove that the 
clergy were permitted in ancient times to marry, and that therefore 
the church then was upon a different footing from what it is now, 
Archbishop Usher mentions that St. Patrick was the son of the dea- 
con Calphurnius, who himself was the son of the priest Potitus. I 
answer, that if the learned primate had acted fairly by his readers, 
he would have informed them that the same author who mentions 
these particulars concerning St. Patrick's family, expressly tells us 
that the children of Calphurnius and Potitus were born pi'evionsly to 
their fathers' ordination. 

* See the History of the Sons of Sabereth, 1. ii. c. 5. 

t " Lavat nos (Christus) a peccatis nostris quotidie in sanguine suo, cum ejus- 
dem beatce passionis memoria ad altare replicatur, cum panis et vini cieaturam 
sacramentum carnis et sanguinis ejus, ineffabili spiritus sanctificatione TRANS- 
FERTUR : sicque corpus et sanguis illius non infideUum manibus ad perniciem 
ipsorum funditur, et occiditur, sed fidelium, ore,suam sumitur ad salutem." Bed. 
Horn, in Epiph. tom. 7. As the doctrine of the eastern church is particularly im- 
plicated in the present controversy, 1 shall select, from among scores of other tes- 
timonies relating to it, a passage from the catechetical discourses of a holy father 
who was bishop of the primitive church of Jerusalem in the fourth century : " The 
bread and wine of the eucharist, before the invocation of the adorable Trinity, 
were mere bread and wine ; but that invocation having taken place, the bread be- 
comes the body of Christ, and the wine becomes the blood of Christ. Since, then, 
Christ thus declares concerning the bread : THIS IS MY BODY, who can doubt 
any longer ? And since he confirms what he said, and declares THIS IS MY 
BLOOD, who will dare to hesitate, and affirm that it is not his blood ?" He once 
changed water into wine, which resembles blood, at Cana in Galilee : and is he 
not worthy to be believed, when he says that he changes wine into blood .?" &c. 
St. Cyril of Jerusal. Catech. Mystagog. i. See also the Liturgy of St. Basil, and 
of St. Chrys. in Le Brun, &c. 



384 

To prevent being obliged to return again to the same subject, I 
shall take notice here of some of the extravagant assertions of Dr. 
Ledwich, on the subject of clerical and monastic celibacy. He as- 
serts, that the ancient Irish ascetics, called Culdees, were married ;* 
and he appeals to an authority in support of his assertion. But 
what, Sir, do you think, is this authority 1 It is the bare word of 
the profligate and deistical writer of the last century, Toland ! Such 
is the ' enlightened criticism ' of this vaunting antiquary of Ireland ! 
To be sure, a monastery of 3000 monks, as was that of Benchor 
under St. Comgall,t with each one a wife and family, was admirably 
calculated for the observance of those austere rules of obedience, si- 
lence, abstemiousness, poverty, &:.c. which Dr. Ledwich admits them 
to have practised ; having borrowed them, he tells us, not from the 
christian monks of Egypt, but from the more ancient heathen priests 
of Egypt ! So desirous is he of making a confused medley of Chris- 
tianity and paganism !| Three thousand monks in a monastery 
with their wives and families ! How far will the impositions of 
some men go, and the credulity of others ! He says, however, that 
' when it came to their turn to officiate, they did not cohabit with 
their wives ; as by the 28th canon of the African code, subdeacons, 
who handle the holy mysteries, deacons, priests, and bishops are di- 
rected, at their several terms, to abstain from their wives : a prac- 
tice derived from Egypt to the Jews, and from them adopted by the 
christians. Celibacy was unknown for the first three hundred years 
of the church. '<§ What a mass of misrepresentation and falsehood 
is here heaped together ! In the fipst place, by Ledwich's own ac- 
count, the monks in general, and the Culdees in particular, ' had no 
office in the church ; even the abbots had not priesthood till the 12th 
century.' 1 1 St. Columba is mentioned as an exception to this rule. 
Hence their ' turn to officiate, according to this author himself, 
never came round.' The writer equally imposes upon those who 
trust to him, in what he says about the derivation of clerical conti- 
nency from pagan priests. If those illustrious prelates who framed 
the African code, Aurelius, St. Augustine, St. Alypius, &c. to whose 
authority he has just now appealed, are to be believed, this observ- 
ance is derived from tJie apostles," 

"Having undertaken so desperate a cause, as that of proving the 
religion of St. Patrick and his converts not to have been the Catho- 
lic, no wonder Archbishop Usher, with all his talents, should have 
failed in it ; no wonder his adversary F. Malone, having the works 
of the fathers at his elbow, should have gained so decided a victory 
over him, and that the perusal of their respective writings should 
have determined the Archbishop's descendant, the reverend James 
Usher, to become a Catholic, as I have related in one of my first let- 
ters to you. The most important however, of Usher's objections, re- 
mains to be examined : he denies that St. Patrick and his disciples 
acknowledged the Pope's spiritual primacy. If this be true, un- 
doubtedly their religion was not Catholic; for it is their union with 
the successor of St. Peter, as their visible head here upon earth, 

* Antiq. p. 111. t Ibid. p. 90. t Ibid. § Ibid. pp. Ill, 112. || Ibid. 



385 

which does keep, and ever haskejot the members of the great Catho- 
lic or universal church, spread as it is all over the universe, in one 
faith and one communion. 

Let us now see how far this objection is conformable or opposite 
to historical documents. I shall refer to the primate himself in his 
learned works called De Britannicarum Ecclcsiarum Primordiis, 
and his Index Chronologicus, when I can do so ; because it may save 
me some little trouble, and because nothing is more satisfactory than 
an adversary's own confession. In a word, I mean to convict Arcli- 
bishop Usher, the Controvertist, upon the evidence of Archbishop 
Usher, the Antiquary. The following facts then are admitted and 
distinctly stated by him, together with the authorities on which they 
rest, relative to the connection which subsisted in ancient times be- 
tween the churches of these islands and the See of Rome. 

In 397 St. Albeus, an Irishman by birth, was consecrated bishop 
by the Pope, and afterwards returned into Ireland. In 402 two 
other Irishmen, SS. Declan and Kieran, after studying at Rome, 
were consecrated bishops by the Pope, and sent to preach the gos- 
pel in their own country.* The same account is given of St. Ibarus, 
another celebrated Irish bishop. He was sent from Rome to Ire- 
land in the year 420.t In 431 Palladius, a deacon of the Roman 
church, was consecrated by Pope Celestine bishop of the Scots, and 
sent by him to the Scots of Ireland ; but, being discouraged by the 
opposition he there met with, he passed over to the British Scots in 
the Highlands, and is acknowledged as their apostle. In 432, St. 
Patrick, after residing long at Rome, and learning his religion there, | 
is sent to preach the gospel in Ireland by the above-mentioned Pope 
Celestine. In 434 Secundinus, Auxilius and Isernus are ordained 
bishops, and sent from Rome to the assistance of St. Patrick. In 
462 St. Patrick goes to Rome, to give an account of his mission in 
Ireland, and to obtain from Pope Hilarius a confirmation of what 
he had settled there. About the latter end of the fifth century, it 
was the custom of the Irish to go in crowds to Rome upon pilgrim- 
ages of devotion. § In 540 St. Finian of Clonard, the master of so 
many eminent Irish scholars, was consecrated bishop at Rome. In 
580 SS. Columbanus and Gallus pass over to the continent, where 
they are received by the bishops and princes of France and Italy as 
illustrious and orthodox doctors of the Catholic faith. In 594 Pope 
Gregory the Great writes different letters, to the bishops of Ireland, 
in answers to questions which they had proposed to him concerning 
baptism, the Nestorian errors, and other matters. In these he 
writes in the style of a superior to his inferiors. || In the year 609, 
St. Augustine's successor in the see of Canterbury, St. Laurence, 
exercises this authority by writing separately to the Irish and Welsh 
bishops, exhorting them to conform to the rest of the church in the 
observance of Easter.^ In 628 the southern Irish are reclaimed 

* Primord, p. 661, ed. 1639. t Ibid. p. 800. 

X " Patricius Romanis disciplinis eruditus." Girald. Camb. cited by Usher. 
§ Girald. Camb. in Vita S. David, quoted by Usher. 
II Vide Epistolas S. Greg. 1. ii. ep. 36, et. 1. ix. ep. 61. 
ir Ibid. 1. ii. c. 4. 

49 



386 

from their erroneous practice by Pope Honorius. In 630 a deputa- 
tion of learned and holy men were sent by the bishops of Ireland to 
" the fountain of their baptism, like children to their mother,"* to 
confer with the Apostolic See concernino; the observance of Easter 
and other matters. Amongst these was St. Lasrean, who was con- 
secrated bishop by Pope Honorius, and appointed his legate in Ire- 
land.f In 640 Tomianus, Archbishop of Armagh, and other Irish 
prelates, still anxious about the right observance of Easter, write to 
consult Pope Severinus, and receive an answer to their letter from 
his successor Pope John. In 64S St. Foillan, an Irish ecclesiastic, 
goes to receive episcopal consecration from Pope Martin, with au- 
thority to preach the faith amongst infidels. In 686 St. Killian, an 
Irish bishop, goes to Rome on the same errand. About this time, 
and during a long time after, England continued to be supplied with 
bishops and learned doctors from Ireland, who diflered in nothing 
from the Roman missionaries, except as to the time of keeping 
Easter, and the form of their clerical tonsures. In 680 St. Wilfrid, 
archbishop of York, assisted at the first great lateran council of 125 
bishops under Pope Agatho, in which he bore testimony to the or- 
thodoxy of the churches of Ireland, as well as of Britain. In the 
eighth and ninth centuries the Irish continued to flock to the conti- 
nent more than ever,t where they were received, not only as breth- 
ren, but also as masters, by the most zealous partizans of the See of 
Rome, such as St. Boniface, Archbishop of Mentz, and Pepin, King 
of France. One of these, St. Virgil, bishop of Salsburg, who died 
in 784, having, at difl'erent times, certain controversies with his me- 
tropolitan, the above-mentioned St. Boniface, the decision of them 
was, in every instance, referred to the Fope.§ At the beginning of 
the ninth century, Dumgal, an Irish doctor, wrote a book, which lie 
dedicated to the Emperor Lotharius, in defence of the cross and 
pious images, against the innovater Claude, bishop of Turin ;|| and 
at the end of this century, those three hardy scholars mentioned in 
a former letter came over from Ireland, to the pious and learned Ring 
Alfred in a boat made of two bullocks hides and a half. Their busi- 
ness, after staying some time with Alfred, was to perform a journey 
of devotion to Rorae.^ At this time, it was the practice for metro- 
politans to take an oath of canonical obedience to the Pope, as it 
was the practice of other bishops to take such an oath to them.** 
Hence, as the Archbishop of Canterbury, ever since the commission 
of St. Gregory the Great to St. Augustine, had legatine jurisdiction 
in Ireland, so we find the Irish prelates taking such an oath to the 
English primates in the 11th century. ft I now meet with another 

* See Usher, also Epist. Cummieni in Sylog. and an abstract of it in Ware's 
Writers of Ireland. Art. Ctimniienus. 

t This is expressly stated by Usher, Prunord. p. 938. 

X This appears by the testimony of Erric of Auxerre, quoted above in my second 
letter. § Ware's Descript. &cc. \\ Ibid. 

f Chron. Sax. Ethelward. 

** Vide De Marda Concordan. Sacerd. et. Imper. Tliomassin, de Discip. Van 
Espon. Jus. Canon, &c. 

tt See one of these made by Patrick, the other by Donatus, successively Arch- 
bishops of Dublin to Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canteibury, Anglia Sacra, vol. i. p. 



387 

anecdote to my purpose in Usher's own lucubrations. In 1096 the 
people of Waterford being desirous of having a bishop for that flour- 
ishing city, applied for this purpose to St. Anselm, archbishop of 
Canterbury, being the Legatus Natus, as canonists express it, of all 
the British islands.* The same primate understanding that Samuel, 
archbishop of Dublin, caused the cross to be borne before him, in 
the same manner as if he had been possessed of legatine jurisdiction, 
reprehended him in the terras which are to be seen below.f 

Here, Sir, is a chain of facts, the greater part of them being re- 
corded by Usher himself, which carry up the acknowledgment of the 
Pope's spiritual supremacy in Ireland from the middle of the 12th 
century, (the pretended fera of its commencement) clearly up to the 
first prelates of Ireland at the end of the fourth century. I could 
strengthen this chain by adding many collateral links to it, if it were 
not already sufficiently strong. 

I come now to consider the system which is peculiar to Dr. Led- 
wich on the present subject. In fact it is such as never did enter, 
and is never likely to enter into the conception of any other man of 
letters whomsoever. Having vainly attempted to give an Asiatic 
origin to the Christianity of Ireland, totally unconnected with, and 
in direct opposition to the Christianity which prevailed at Rome, in 
England, and other places; he endeavours to shew a continuation 
of this newly discovered religion down to the 12th century ,| amongst 
an order of pious monks, called Culdees. He tells us, that their 
founder, St. Columba,§ was a quartodeciman ;|| that "they did not 
adopt the corruptions of the Anglo-Saxon church, or the supersti- 
tions which contaminated Christianity ;''^ that " they adhered to 
the ancient faith, and abhorred Roman innovations ;"** that " Cura- 
niian, a Culdee, apostatized and listened to Roman emissaries ;"t+ 
that "at length Adamnan, the Culdean abbot of Hy, likewise apos- 
tatized. "J| These are the kw, among the many glaring errors, 
which this " cultivator and destroyer of antiquity," as I have else- 
where called him, has fallen into in speaking of the Culdees. 

In the first place, these Colidci or luorshippers of God, were not a 
distinct order of monks founded by St. Columba, and confined to 
the island of Hy ; but this was a general name for all the ancient 
Scotch and Irish monks, or rather canons regular, as we are assured 
by unquestionable authority. §§ 2dly, St. Columba and his monks 

80. The following is an extract from the former : " Ego Patricius ad regendam 
Dublinam, Metropolem Hibernite, electus, tibi Rev. Pater Lanfrance Britannia- 
rum Prlwas, et S. Dorobernensis Ecclesias Archiepiscope, professionis mes2 char- 
tam porrigo ; meque tibi, tuisque successoribus in omnibus quas ad Christianam 
religionem pertinent obtemperaturum esse promitto." 

* Index Chron. add dictum Ann. et Primord. See also Eadmer. Plist. Novo- 
rura, c. 36. 

t " PrfBterea audivi quia facis portari crucem ante te in via. Quod si verum est, 
mando tibi ne amplius hoc facias : quia non pertinet nisi ad Archiepiscopum a Ro- 
mano Pontifice pallio confirmatum." Epist. Ansehn. 1. iii. ep. 72. 1. iv. ep. 27. 

I Antiq. p. 96. § Ibid. p. 103. |1 Ibid. p. 107. IT P. Ibid. 

** P. 100. tt P. 108. it P. 111. 

§ § Giraldus calls them " Caelibes, quos Caelicolas vel CoHdeos vocant." To- 
pograph. Hib. Dist. ii. c. 4. Hector Boetius, lib. vi. Hist. Scot, says, that the name 
became so common, that priests in genera], almost down to his own time, were 
called " Culdei," that is to say, " Cultores Dei." 



388 

of Hy, were not quartodecimans, if Bede, who knew them so well, 
may be credited in what he affirms concerning them. 3dly, The 
Ciildees had no other faith, or ecclesiastical discipline, except as to 
the mode of computing the festivals of Easter, than the English 
church, and all the other churches of the same ages had. For does 
Dr. Ledwich himself believe, that, if they had denied the real pre- 
sence of Christ in the blessed Eucharist, or the utility of praying 
for the dead, or of desiring the prayers of the saints, or the Pope's 
supremacy, or had even rejected the use of pious pictures in their 
churches, or of holy water, and such like things, which we are sure 
the English Saxons adopted, they would have been invited to join 
with the Roman missionaries in forming our infant church, in edu- 
cating its youth, and in governing it in quality of bishops 1 Would 
their virtues have been so highly extolled by Bede, and the Catholic 
hagiographers in general, as they are, and would the names of their 
saints be inscribed upon the churches, and in the martyrologies of 
Rome, and of all the Catholics of Christendom 1 4thly, It is evi- 
dent, that what Dr. Ledwich writes concerning the ancient religion 
and Roman innovations, ought to be inverted : for nothing is more 
certain, than that the ancient British prelates originally followed the 
practice of Rome and the other churches with respect to the time 
of keeping Easter, as well as in other particulars ; and that the error 
which they and the Irish prelates fell into upon this point was an 
innovation, comparatively of a late date. Of this we have positive 
proofs: for the chief bishops of the British church were present at, 
and subscribed to the council of Aries, as I observed to you before ; 
the very first canon of which appoints the time of Easter to be kept 
on the same day throughout the world, and that the Pope should 
give general notice of that day. 

This canon was confirmed in the oecumenical council of Nice, and 
the emperor Constantiue wrote a circular letter to all the churches 
of the christian world, informing them of what had been decreed in 
that particular, and exhorting the several bishops to subscribe to it.* 
In this letter he testifies, that our British provinces were amongst 
those which agreed, as to the time of celebrating Easter, with Rome 
and the remainder of the west, as also with the south, the north, and 
a great part of the east ; in opposition to a certain part of the east, 
namely, Syria and Mesopotamia. It is evident, then, that the ob- 
servance of the British churches was conformable to that of Rome 
in this particular, at least down to the year 325, when the aforesaid 
letter was written ; and there cannot be a doubt that they continued 
in the same observance, as long as the Pope, agreeably to the an- 
cient custom, and the decree of the council of Aries, t had had a fa- 
cility of writing to them, and giving them notice of the right day of 
keeping Easter; that is to say, until the Britons were crushed by 
the Saxons, and driven into the mountains of Wales and Cornwall. 
This catastrophe was complete about the year 500 ; at which time 
we may suppose that, attempting to calculate the vernal equinox, 
and the time of the moon, for themselves, instead of receiving the 

^ Euseb. on Vit. Constant. 1. iii. c. 17. t Can. i. 



389 

calculations of Rome and Alexandria,* they fell, not indeed into the 
practice of the Jews and quartodecimans, which consisted in keep- 
ing the Pasch on the 14th day of the moon next after the vernal 
equinox, whatever day of the week that happened to be, but into a 
peculiar error of their own, by keeping Easter on the 14th day when 
it fell upon a Sunday ; whereas the churches on the continent, in 
this case, waited till the ensuing Sunday. This erroneous calcula- 
tion the British prelates seem to have communicated to those of Ire- 
land and Scotland. The error in question, though attended with 
great inconveniences,! yet not being formally condemned by the 
church, like that of the quartodecimans, was tolerated by the Ro- 
man See and the prelates in communion with it, until the christians 
of these islands becoming sensible of it, gradually relinquished it. 
Now this rectifying of an acknowledged error, Dr. Ledwich repeat- 
edly terms ajiostacy. But to what system did the British churches 
apostatize 1 To that which was common to all christians except 
themselves ; to that which their fathers had followed, and subscribed 
to in a great council ; in short to that which Dr. Ledwich himself, 
with all those of his communion, adopt at the present day ! See, 
Sir, into \v\y.\i disorders and contradictions tliis bewildered antiqua- 
ry has plunged, in order to prove that Catholicity was not the an- 
cient religion of Ireland !" 

The reader will hardly think it necessary to ask my opinion on 
the subject of the foregoing controversy, as he must perceive that if 
I believed with Dr. Ledwich and Archbishop Usher, that Protestant- 
ism was the first system of christian worship established in Ireland, 
I should not have brought forward such incontrovertible arguments 
on the part of the Catholics as Dr. Milner has advanced. I have 
not done so, however, through a spirit of partiality or prepossession, 
but because I found it my duty to state the arguments of the ablest 
writers on both sides of the question, and thus place the reader on 
the most elevated ground, whence he could view with more clear- 
ness, and judge with more certainty of the subject in debate. If, 
however, any person should tell me that, in agitating this question, 
I was influenced only by a wish to exalt the Catholic at the expense 
of the Protestant church, and if he should thence conclude that I 
am not that impartial writer which I profess to be in the title of my 
work, I can only reply, that if the Catholic religion was the first re- 
ligion established in Ireland, I would be a very prejudiced and bi- 
gotted writer to leave my readers under an impression that it was 
not, and he who would require of me to do so, and to pass the ques- 
tion by unnoticed, would openly avow himself to be what I disclaim, 
a religious bigot. I shall be always happy to do justice, not only 
to Protestants, but to all mankind, whenever I can do it with can- 

" St. IjCo testifies Ihat the calculation was made at Alexandria, (which city was 
famous for astronomical studies) and being notified to the Pope, was by him pro- 
mulgated throughout Christendom. 

t Venerable Bede furnishes us with a striking instance of this inconvenience 
with respect to king Oswy, who followed the British computation, and his queen 
Eanfeld, who adopted that of the continent. It happened on one occasion, that 
the king was celebrating his Easter with halleluiahs and flesh meat, while the 
queen was beginning her holy week with lamentations and fasting. L. iii. c. 25. 



390 

dour, but the spirit of conciliation shall never carry me so far, as to 
forget what I owe to truth and honesty. For my part I must con- 
fess, that if I were a Protestant, I would begin to suspect my reli- 
gion if it stood in need of so weak a proof as that by which Usher 
and Ledvvich endeavour to support it, namely, that it was the ancient 
religion of Ireland ; and that the Catholic rehgion was only an inno- 
vation, an intrusion upon it ; for if the established religion be the 
true religion, or, (grant with most Protestant writers that no religion 
is free from error,) if it be the most acceptable to God, surely 
it must be equally true, equally acceptable, though the first creed es- 
tablished in Ireland was downright heresy ; but if it be not the true 
or the acceptable religion, can it be rendered so by proving it the 
same with that which was first preached in Ireland. Can a Protest- 
ant then take a more efliectual way of bringing his religion into sus- 
picion than by weakly endeavouring to prove it to be what it never 
was — the same with that taught by St. Patrick and his successors, 
and which, though it even were, would be rendered neither more nor 
less perfect by it than if it were not — for in either case it should ul- 
timately rest on its own merits. It is to be lamented that Protestant 
writers who argue with so much logical accuracy on every other sub- 
ject, and who display a grasp of mind equal to any thing that comes 
properly within the sphere of human investigation, should betray 
such poverty of talent, and so contracted a view of their subject, 
when they come to treat of religion. Doctor Warner, who evinces 
more impartiality than any other English writer who has treated of 
Irish history, forgets his wonted good sense and candour when he 
touches on religion : Endeavouring to prove with Usher that the 
Catholic was not the first christian religion of Ireland, he leads us 
through an inextricable labyrinth, from which even the wings of De- 
dalus could not extricate us. Believing, however, that the question 
has been sufficiently discussed already, I shall not enter the lists 
with Dr. Warner on the subject, but merely quote two passages from 
the seventh book of his History of Ireland, in which he afiirms and 
denies the self-same propositions. After giving such a view of primi- 
tive Christianity in Ireland as lie thought would prove it not to be 
the Catholic religion, he thus concludes, " It was necessary to give 
the reader this abstract of the religion of the ancient Irish ; which, 
under that title, he may find treated of in a book by archbishop 
Usher, if be desires to see it more at large, and in which the authori- 
ties that he goes upon are particularly cited. This sketch, however, 
is sufficient to convince us that the reformation made no other change 
in the church of Ireland than to bring it back again to its ancient 
state before the court of Rome had usurped an authority over it, and 
corrupted it with innovations as contrary to scripture as to common 
sense. In short, it will remove one of the main pillars on which 
they rest their arguments against Protestants, that we had no other 
church before Luther but the church of Rome. For from hence it 
hath appeared that during the first seven hundred years after the in- 
troduction of Christianity, the Irish were so far from owning the 
authority of the church of Rome, that they had their own liturgy 
distinct from the Roman service — their own ecclesiastical rites and 



391 

customs, their own nietropolitical power without a pall even greater 
than it was after it."* 

Compare tiiis with what he says a few pages after, where, talking 
of the Congress of Dromceat, and the influence exercised over it by 
St. Cokirnba, he says: " Before we take a final leave of this extra- 
ordinary raonk, in order to sliew the reader the state of religious 
knowledge at that time in Ireland, it may be proper to let him know 
that every family of the nobility and gentry throughout the kingdom 
which had renounced paganism, had a singular veneration for some 
particular saint ivhose protection they implored, and whose name they 
invoked upon all occasions as the heathens did their household gods. In 
short, there was not a country or territory in the whole island which 
had not their particular saint, whom they chose as the guardian of 
their lives and fortunes, and these saints are all recorded with the 
provinces and families they had the charge of But these were all 
allowed to be of an inferior order when compared with Patrick, who 
possessed the first place in the Irish calendar, which he still retains, 
as the guardian angel of the whole island. Colum Kill was esteemed 
the tutelary saint of the illustrious tribe of O'Neill, and to his inter- 
est alone the success of their battles, in which they were invincible, 
was attributed." 

In the first of these quotations we are told, that " the reformation 
made no other change in the church of Ireland than to bring it back 
again to its ancient state," and also that this ancient state continued 
" during the first seven hundred years after the introduction of Chris- 
tianity ;" but in the last quotation we are told, that in less than a 
century and a half after the introduction of Christianity, namely, 
when the Congress of Dromceat was held, the Irish venerated the 
saints, and implored their protection as the heatheiis did their household 
gods. This surely was not the doctrine of the reformation, and the 
writer must have greatly forgot himself who made the assertion : 
but to demonstrate beyond all possibility of contradiction that this 
otherwise impartial writer grossly contradicts himself, when he 
speaks of religion, it will be sufficient to shew, that he affirms and 
denies the self same proposition. Here we see him acknowledging 
that the Irish venerated saints, and implored their assistance, but, 
when at the conclusion of the very same book in which he makes 
this assertion, he returned' once more to the subject of proving that 
the reformation made no change in the ancient religion of Ireland, 
he unhesitatingly asserts, that " the doctrine of transubstaniiation,. 
and the worship of saints, were not so much as thought of at that 
time." 

From what has been said in this chapter, I presume every unbi- 
assed reader will be able to form a pretty accurate idea of the reli- 
gion first established in Ireland by St. Patrick and his successors- 
It now remains to shew the progress which this religion made from 
the time of this apostle to the invasion of the Danes, and to give 
some account of those Irishmen to whom the propagation of the 
faith, not only in Ireland, but in other countries, is particularly in- 

* Warren's Ireland, p. 297. 



392 

debted ; after which we shall again resume our civil history with the 
invasion of the Danes. 

Of St. Patrick himself we have already spoken : we shall there- 
fore begin with those who co-operated with him in the propagation 
of Christianity, and in the establishment of schools and religious 
foundations. 

St. Albe, Declan, and Kieran, are said to have preached the gos- 
pel in Ireland before the arrival of St. Patrick, and to have been co- 
temporary with him. The former founded the church of Emly in 
the county of Tipperary in the beginning of the fifth century. It 
was a school of great repute, and produced St. Colman and St. 
Molua, the latter of whom was son to Eocha, king of Munster. He 
founded the church of Killaloe, or, perhaps, more correctly, Kill- 
Molua. About the same time St. Declan founded churches and 
schools in the Deasies, in the county of Waterford, from which he 
got the name of Patrick of the Deasies, a name said to have been 
given to him by St. Patrick himself, who also gave St. Molua the 
name of Patrick of Munster." 



CHAPTER LVI. 

The Irish Bishoprics, and a biographical sketch of their respective Founders. 

In our preceding chapters, in narrating the events and incidents 
of the life of St. Patrick, we gave an account of the archbishopric 
of Armagh. St. Albe, who was consecrated Bishop of Munster, by 
the Pope, A. D. .501, is considered by our annalists, to have been 
the first prelate of the arch-diocess of Cashel. It is said, that before 
the coming of St. Patrick, he was converted to Christianity by a 
Roman missionary. He erected a Cathedral and abbey at Emly, in 
the county of Tipperary, — and died Archbishop of Emly and Cashel, 
according to Sir James Ware, A. D. 527. " 

The cathedral of Emly,* was for ages, acknowledged the metro- 
politan church of Munster, until it was united to the archiepiscopal 
See of Cashel, in the year 1569. t 

* Emly, now a poor village, exhibiting only the shadows of its ancient architec- 
tural magnificence, is situated in the barony of Clanwilbam, County of Tipperary, 
at the distance of fourteen miles West of Cashel. Here is still to be seen a " wil- 
derness of ecclesiastical ruins," worthy of the pen of a Byron, or the pencil of a 
Rosa. In the sixth century a University was founded in Emly, which until the 
city was burned and plundered by the Danes, in the ninth century, afforded, it is 
said by Colgan, education to fifteen hundred students at a time. So late as the 
reign "of Henry VHI. it was deemed a city of consequence, and shortly after the 
accession of that tyrant to the Enghsh throne, Thomas Hurly, then bishop of 
Emly, erected there a spacious college for secular Priests. A destructive fire 
which occurred in 1192, reduced the cathedral, abbeys, and public buildings of 
Emly to ruin and desolation. The country around Emly is rich, picturesque, and 
beautiful. 

t In a future chapter we will give a full and comprehensive description of the 
once famous city of Cashel, in the County of Tipperary,— of its regal, ecclesias- 



393 

The archiepiscopal diocess of Dublin, although a Bishop's See 
since the days of St. Patrick, was not constituted into an archiepis- 
copal See until Cardinal Paparo, in A. D. 1152, the Pope's legate, 
presented Gregory, its then bishop, with his Holiness's pall, invest- 
ing that prelate with the dignity aiad power of archbishop of Dublin 
and Glendalogh. The Bishopric of Glendalogh,* which was founded 
by St. Kevin, in the middle of the sixth century, remained from its 
establishment a distinct and independent See until archbishop de 
Londres obtained from Pope Honorius IIT., A. D. 1213, a Bull for 
annexing and uniting it to the See of Dublin. On the return of 
archbishop de Londres from Rome, where the Pope conferred on 
him legatine powers, he received from King John, in 1215, a con- 
firmation of the Pope's Bull. William Piro, who died in 1228, was 
the last Canonical bishop of Glendalogh. 

" Notwithstanding the Bull of the Pope, and the grant of King 
John," says Sir James Ware, " the O'Tooles, chiefs of Fir-Thuathal, 
continued, long after this period, to elect bishops and abbots to Glen- 
dalogh, though they had neither revenues nor authorities, beyond 
the district of Thuathal, which was the western part of the coun- 
ty of Wicklow, in consequence of which the city was suffered to de- 
cay, and became nearly a desert, in 1497, when Denis W^hite, the 
last titular bishop, surrendered his right, in the Cathedral church of 
St. Patrick, Dublin." 

The saintly founder of Glendalogh, Cormgen, (or Kevin) was the 
son of one of the princes of Wicklow, and became, in the maturity 
of his age, as renowned for his literary attainments as for his emi- 
nent piety. " He wrote," says Hanner, " one book on the origin 
of the British, and another on the reigns of Heber and Heremon." 
He died at Glendalogh, where his remains were entombed on the 
third of June, A. D. 618, when he had attained the patriarchal age 
of one hundred and twenty years. 

The fourth archiepiscopal See of which we would give a history, 
is TuAM, in the county of Galway.f St. Jarlath, the son of Loga, 

tical, and feudal ruins, which are still standing, as decayed and dilapidated, though 
sublime and solemn monuments of its former greatness and grandeur. 

* Glendalogh (the vale of the two lakes) once a regal and episcopal city, the 
capital of Hymayle, the principality of the O'Toole's, is situated in the barony of 
Ballinacor, County of Wicklow, at the distance oi' twenty miles S. W. from Dub- 
lin. The venerable and affecting ruins of seven churches here rear their ivy- 
wreathed heads. Before the incarnation, this sequestered and gloomy spot, se- 
lected by St. Kevin, in 498, for his hermitage, was consecrated to Druidical wor- 
ship, and the caves of their mysteries, and the remains of one of their temples still 
exist to give an antique aspect to the scene. Many of the Kings of Ireland were 
interred in Glendalogh, though now (if we except the mouldering sepulchre of 
O'Toole) there are no vestiges of their tombs remaining. Like the walls of Ilium, 
they are mingled with the dust, and no one can tell where they once stood in the 
solemn grandeur of sepulchral architecture. As we will, in the course of this his- 
tory, have frequent occasions to speak of Glendalogh, we will avail ourself of one 
of them to give a detailed description of a place that makes so loud and impressive 
a sound in our annals, calling forth an echo of historic association from the mind 
of every antiquary. 

t TuAM, a wealthy and populous town, is situated in the barony of Downamore, 
county of Galway, at the distance of ninety-three Irish miles from Dublin. This 
archiepiscopal city of mouldering monuments, presents us with sublime mementos 

50 



394 

chieftain of Galway, was the first bishop of Tuam, of which See he 
became the founder in A. D. 601, when he erected in that town, a 
magnificent Cathedral, and an abbey. Sir James Ware, in his lives 
of the bishops, extols St. Jarlath for his sanctity, benevolence, and 
literary acquirements. " He was," writes that bigoted Protestant 
author, " a learned man, in whom piety and purity of manners vied 
with his extensive learning. He died, full of dnys, on the 26th of 
December, or as others will have it, the llth of February, but in 
what year I cannot with all my inquiry find out. Certain prophe- 
cies, wrote in Irish, are extant in his name, relating to his successors 
in the See of Tuam. His bones, long after his death, were sought 
for and found, and put in a silver shrine and deposited in a church, 
from thence commonly called Teampoll na aitan, or the chapel of 
the shrine." St. Brendan, the first bishop of Clonfert, county of 
Galway, studied classics and theology under St. Jarlath. The first 
Archbishop of Tuam was Edan O'Hoison, who received the Pope's 
pall from Cardinal Paparo, in A. D. 1152. The bishoprics that 
were made subject by the pall of Pope Eugenius III, in 1152, to the 
archbishop of Tuam, were Mayo, Killala, Roscommon, Clonfert, 
Achonry, in the county of Sligo, Clonmacnois, King's county, and 
Kilmacduagh, county of Galway. 

The Bishopric of Meath was first established by St. Finian, in the 
year 520. To the See of Clonard, which was the original founda- 
tion of the bishopric of Meath, as all the successors of St. Finian 
down to the prelacy of Simon Rochfort, in A. D. 1194, bore the title 
of bishops of Clonard, were subject to the little Sees of Duleek, 
Kells, Trim, Ardbraccan, Dunshaghlin, and Slane, all which places 
are in the county of Meath. St. Finian was descended of a noble 
Milesian family. He studied under the bishop of St. David's in 
Wales, wiio ordained him a priest. On returning to his native land, 

of its ancient princely and prelatical greatness and grandeur, with those towering 
castles, now mantled in ivy, from which the daring feudal chieftain rushed, in the 
full flush of chivalric pride, to the combat of the valiant, — with relics of those ven- 
erable cathedrals, where eloquent piety transformed the obdurate sinner into the 
repentant saint ; — and with those cloistered abbeys, where sanctity administered 
profusely spiritual consolation to the desponding christian — and the rites of hospi- 
tality to the traveller, as well as food to the poor, and the comforts of generous 
charity to the hapless widow, and the destitute orphan. Who, with a spark of 
sensibility alive in his bosom, can view the tomb-strewn aisles of an Irish Cathedral, 
or the ivy-draped cloisters of an abbey, without having his mind impressed with 
awful veneration for the zeal and piety which so peculiarly distinguished our an- 
cient ecclesiastics ? Some of the modern houses of Tuam are commodious and 
elegant. The Protestant Cathedral, which stands on the site of that which St. 
Jarlath erected in A. D. 540, though not imposing in architectural appearance, is 
yet a building of solidity and magnitude. The new and magnificent Catholic Ca- 
thedral, lately erected there, is an honour to the taste and liberalit)' of the Roman 
Catholics of Connaught. Harris and Ware say that Tuam was a great metropoli- 
tan city, in the sixth and seventh centuries, during which periods many Scotch 
and English princes made liberal offerings at the shrine of St. Jarlath. 

The present Roman Catholic Bishop of Tuam — a prelate on whom the mantle 
of the illustrious Doyle seems to have fallen, is the Most Rev. Dr. McHale, a 
gentleman whose piety is a brilliant ornament gemming the Catholic religion, and 
whose intellectual genius and sterling patriotism have kindled new and splendid 
stars in the horizon of our native country's fame. We will have occasion in the 
course of this history, to say more of Tuam. 



395 

the fame of his piety and eloquence recommended him to the Pope, 
who appointed him bishop of Clonard. " Here he erected a Cathe- 
dral," and, says Ware, " a famous College, which by his great care 
and labours, bred many eminent, holy, and learned men ; some of 
them were the two Kierans, the two Brendans, the two Columbesses, 
and Raudan. And as his school was in a manner a sacred seat of 
all kinds of wisdom, as the writer of his life observes, so he obtained 
for himself the name of ' Finian the wise.'' Brewer, the liberal and 
enlightened English Tourist, in the topographical sketch which he 
gives, in his valuable work, entitled the ^Beauties of Ireland,' writes 
' St. Finian also founded at this place an abbey, in which he estab- 
lished a school, which became one of the most celebrated academies 
of Ireland, at a time when this island was famed throughout neigh 
bouring countries, for the success with which letters were cultivated 
in the sanctity of its cloisters. When we reflect on the piety and 
urbanity of the schoolmen of Ireland, in the sixth and seventh cen- 
turies, and recollect, on the testimony of Bede, if foreign evidence 
be wanting, that they received with benevolent hospitality, aspirants 
after learning from other countries, including Britain, we must needs 
look back with veneration, and must also regard with a sigh of pity 
the present humility of this fallen town !"* 

St. Finian died, according to Ware, at Clonard, about the year 
552. The diocess of Meath extends over parts of six counties, 
namely, the two Meaths, Longford, Cavan, Louth, and King's 
county. An accomplished Irish writer, in descanting on the exten- 
sive erudition and mental powers of St. Finian, observes — " So great 
was the fame of Finian as a commentator on sacred Scripture, that 
all the holy men of Ireland, came to hear wisdom from his animated 
discourses. Hither came the twelve saints whom St. Patrick con- 
stituted apostles of the island, the venerable Rieran, of Saigar, in 
Ossory, who, with his hair whitened with the snows of a hundred 
winters, did not disdain to hear Finian expound to him the sublime 
volume of holiness, — here also came Rieran abbot of Clonmacnois, 
who wore himself out in deeds of penance and sanctity, and died in 
his thirty-third year. The two Columbs, Columbkille, and Columb 
of Firdaglas ; — the two Brendans, Brendan of Birr, and Brendan of 
Rerry — Raudan, abbot of Lorrah, in the county of Tipperary, Mo- 
lua of Clonfert, and others, as reported by Usher and Colgan re- 
sorted hither. 

* Clonard (which signifies in Irish the lonely retirement) is situated near the 
bank of the river Boyne, in the barony of Moyfenrath, county of Meath, at the 
distance of 25 Irish miles north of Dublin. This decayed town which was once 
so proud and populous, presents in its ruins a melancholy picture of the devasta 
lions of war and time. Mr. Brewer in describing the architectural relics of Clo 
nard, says : — " The remains of the buildings erected after the refoundation of the 
abbey, by Walter de Lacy, in A. D. 1175, for canons regular, following the rule 
of St. Augustine, were, until a recent date, of some extent, and of considerable 
interest ; — ^but we regret to state, that, with indifference almost amounting to bar- 
barous apathy, they have been lately entirely destroyed, with the exception of an 
ancient and richly sculptured font, which is removed to the modern church of 
Clonard, a fabric completed in the year 1810." The town of Clonard is ornamented 
by a beautiful vicinage of domains spread along the picturesque banks of the river 
Boyne. 



396 

It would appear that these pious men, while residing at Clonard, 
did not allow their studies to interfere with their bodily exercises, 
but that they cultivated the rich and fertile ground around their 
abode, and thus by invigorating their bodies, enlivened their minds, 
and rendered them more capable of enduring the mental toil at- 
tendant on the accumulation of great learning." 

The first Protestant bishop of Meath was Edward Staples, an 
Englishman, appointed by Pope Clement VII. in 1530; but who, to 
retain the See, renounced the Catholic religion, and acknowledged 
the supremacy of Henry VIII. in 1543, and then married a wife. 
Shortly after the accession of queen Mary, the archbishops of Armagh 
and Dublin deprived him of the bishopric, to which William Walsh, 
D. D. of Waterford, was appointed by the Pope, A. D. 1554. As 
soon as Elizabeth was seated on the British throne, she caused 
bishop Walsh to be ejected from the See, and banished to Spain, 
where he died in the Cistercian College of Alcala, on the 3d of Jan- 
uary, 1577. 

The See of Clonmacnois,* (the resting place of the sons of the 
chiefs) in the King's county, was founded by St. Kieran the younger 
of the family of the Ards, in the year 548. Dermod, then monarch 
of Ireland, made to him a grant of a large tract of land, adjoining 
the river Shannon, on which the Saint erected a Cathedral and an 
abbey; but scarcely were the buildings completed, when the hand 
of death smote the pious and discreet founder, A. D. 549. The re- 
ligious houses of Clonmacnois rose to eminent repute under the suc- 
cessors of St. Kieran, or Ciaran. The monastic establishment of 
Clonmacnois possesses more revenues and lands than any other ec- 
clesiastical institution in Ireland. In the year 1152, at the Synod 
held before Cardinal Paparo, Moriertach O'Melider, then bishop 
of Clanmacnois, consented for himself and his successors, to be sub- 
ject to the spiritual authority of the archbishops of Tuam. 

The first Protestant bishop of Clonmacnois, was Florence Ge- 
rawan, who, in 1542, conformed to the behest of Henry VIII., by 
acknowledging his supremacy. 

After the decease of Peter Wall, the last prelate of Clonmacnois, 
the See was, in pursuance of an act of' Parliament, united to that 
of Meath, to which diocess it now belongs. 

The See of the city of Limerick was founded about the middle of 
the sixth century, by St. Munchin, who built there an abbey and a 
Cathedral, which edifices were plundered and burned by the Danes 
in the year 853. St. Munchin died, according to Jocelyn, in the 
year 652. 

We are told by Jocelyn that he was " a very religious man, and 
well read in the holy Scriptures." Ware in his Lives of the Bish- 
ops, writes—" The memory of the death of this Munchin, is de- 
signed under the name of ^ Manicheus the wise Irishman,' in the 

* The superb, venerable, and affecting ruins of the churches, abbeys, and tombs 
of Clonmacnois, raise their grey pinnacles, and time-tinged turrets, on the banks 
of the river Shannon, in the north-western part of the King's county. We will 
speak more largely of these awful and impressive relics of ecclesiastical iarchitecT 
ture, in a future chapter. 



397 

books de Mirahilibus Scriptura." From the period of the death of 
bishop Munchin until the year 1110, when the Danes of Limerick 
conformed to the christian creed, we have no historical record of the 
names or lives of the original prelate's successors. In A. D. 1110, 
Gilbert, a learned and religious abbot of Ireland, was raised by the 
Pope to the episcopal throne of Limerick. Soon after his elevation, 
he assembled a synod at a place designated by Sir James Ware, 
Rathbreassail, " wherein, says that writer, (among other things) the 
bounds and limits of the bishoprics of Ireland were described." 
Bishop Gilbert must have been very eminent for learning and sanc- 
tity, for -the Pope appointed him his legate in Ireland, and in that 
capacity he was invited by Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury, to as- 
sist at the consecration of Bernard, bishop of Minevia, a ceremony 
which took place at Westminster, A. D. 1115. 

He was a most accomplished scholar in theology and the classics. 
It appears from Colgan, that he wrote several epistles to Anselm, 
archbishop of Canterbury, and a book on the state of the Irish 
church, in his time, which, it is said, was found in the last century, 
in Cotton's library. This famous prelate, of whom St. Bernard, in 
his life of Malachy, makes an honourable mention, died about the 
year 1140. 

William Casey was the first Protestant bishop of Limerick ; he 
was raised to that dignity, in A. D. 1552, by the order of Edward 
VI. By the distribution of Sees, made by Cardinal Paparo, the an- 
cient bishopric of Aghadoe, in the county of Kerry, was annexed to 
Limerick. In the year 1663, the See of Ardfert, county of Kerry, 
was also united to that of Limerick. 

The founder of the See of Ardfert, was St. Ert, who flourished in 
the fifth century.* Under that prelate St. Brendan, of Clonfert, 
studied divinity and classics. 

The See of Waterford was founded in A. D. 1096, by St. Mal- 
chus, whom the Pope appointed over the Danes, who at that time 
constituted the majority of the citizens. That prelate was conse- 
crated by Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by Gundalph, 
of Rochester. History does not tell us of the time of the first bishop 
of Waterford's death. Since the year 1363, the Sees of Waterford 
and Lismore have been united. The first bishop of Lismore was 
St. Carthag, — he was a native of Munster, and became, in process 
of time, abbot of Rathkenny, in Meath, from whence, as we have re- 
lated in a preceding chapter, he was despotically expelled by Ring 
JBlathmac. This prelate built the famous university and cathedral 
of Lismore, about the year 635. " He died," writes Sir James 
Ware, " after many testimonies of his sanctity, on the 14th of May, 
638, and was buried in his own church of Lismoi-e, which signifies 
the great enclosure." 

'' Ardfert, (or the height of miracles) is situated in the barony of Clanmorris, 
in the county of Kerry, at the distance of 144 Irish miles from Dublin. St. Bren- 
dan, in the sixth century, erected a superb and sumptuous abbey here, which with 
the cathedral of St. Ert, was destroyed by an accidental fire, A. D. 1089. The 
ruins of abbeys and churches now existing in Ardfert, are majestic and noble in 
their decay. In the mouldering choir of the cathedral, is exquisitely sculptured an 
flto relievo of St. Brendan. March, 1836. 



398 

He was succeeded by his coadjutor, and he and his successors, to 
the ninth century, acquired for the university such lofty fame, as 
" induced," says JBarthol Bloran, " men, in quest of learning, to flock 
thither in great numbers from far and near." Miler Magrath was 
the first Protestant bishop of Waterford and Lismore, appointed by 
Queen Elizabeth in the year 1585. 

We come now to treat of the united Sees of Cork and Ross. The 
bishopric of Cork owes its establishment to St. Finbar, who became 
its first prelate, in the seventh ceiitury. Soon after obtaining the 
mitre of that diocess, he caused a spacious and elegant cathedral to 
be erected in the city of Cork, which, after his death, was solemnly 
dedicated to his memory. The original cathedral of St. Finbar is 
represented, by our annalists, to have been a building of architec- 
tural magnificence, and that all its windows were composed of rich 
and beautiful stained glass.* In the ninth century, the Danes des- 
poiled and destroyed the cathedral of Cork, and carried ofi' the silver 
shrine of its saintly founder. The cathedral was rebuilt, in the be- 
ginning of the eleventh century, through the munificence of McCar- 
ihy-more (the great king of Desmond.t) It appears that the church 
had fallen into decay, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, 
when it was found necessary to have it rased to the ground and re- 
built in its present form, between the years of 1725 and 1735, when 

* The art of staining glass was carried to the highest point of perfection by our 
ancient artists, as the scanty but elegant specimens still to be seen in the cathe- 
drals of Limerick, Kilkenny, Raphoe, Armagh, and several other of our antique 
ecclesiastic edifices, amply testify. In the infancy of the art, in Ireland, in the 
fourth century, the process of painting glass was very simple ; it consisted in the 
mere arrangement of glass, tinged with different colours, in a symmetrical order, 
like the dies delineated on a mosaic ceiling. Our churches were adorned with 
stained glass windows, exhibiting scriptural and martyrological history, and reli- 
gious and clerical symbols, two centuries before the church of St. Mark in Venice 
was decorated with this species of embellishment. We are told by Bishop Burke 
in the history of the Irish abbeys, that St. Kenan's Cathedral, built at Duleek, in 
the county of Meath, A. D. 489, was enlightened by stained glass windows, repre- 
senting the sufferings of Christ. In the fifth and sixth century the art made rapid 
strides to perfection ; the painters became more spirited in design, and more skilful 
and exquisite in execution ; but though they delineated figures enlightened with 
their shades, yet they could not fill up their contours with fine groupings, or 
graphic elegancies of detail. When they were called upon to adorn palaces or 
Jhurches, they had glass of every colour of the rainbow, prepared, out of which 
they cut the pieces they wanted to fill up the window frame or sash. But after a 
short time they discovered a more improved method of incorporating the colours 
an the glass itself, by heating it in a strong fire to the desired degree. We believe 
that the art is partially lost, for the modern attempts have neither the boldness of 
design nor the vivid freshness of colouring which our old abbeys and churches yet 
exhibit. The atrocious Gothic myrmidons of Cromwell, after the massacre at 
Droo-heda, proceeded to the once magnificent abbey of Melefont, in the county of 
Louth, and in the rage of the diabolical spirit of their fanaticism, broke and de- 
niolished the georgeously stained glass windows, which even the ravaging Huns 
of Elizabeth had spared. On these windows, which were presented to the abbot 
by O'Rourke, prince of BrefFeny, A. D. 1169, were beautifully painted, at full 
lengths, the twelve apostles, the four evangelists, and the prophets of the Old 
Testament. Harris has asserted that if these windows were in existence in his 
day. 1763, that they would be worth six thousand guineas. 

t Desmond, (signifying in Irish Deas Mumhan) or South Munster, was an an- 
cient principality of the McCarthy's, which comprehended within its bounds, the 
principal districts of the counties of Cork and Kerry. 



399 

the expense attending the erection of that structure, was defrayed 
by an additional duty imposed on the coal and culm consumed in 
the city and vicinage. Brewer, in his description of the city of 
Cork, speaks thus of St. Finbar's cathedral : — " It is quite unworthy 
of the diocess to which it belongs, whether we consider its dimen- 
sions, or architectural character. It is a massy, but a tasteless and 
dull pile, composed of stone. There is no transept, and at the west 
end is a tower, surmounted by an octangular spire, of most inele- 
gant proportions. The Doric order is affected in the body of the 
building, but the windows have wooden sash-frames, and no single 
feature of the exterior is calculated to gratify either the ordinary or 
the judicious examinei*. The interior is distinguished from thai of 
a parochial church, suited to a provincial town, merely by the throne 
and stalls, which are in a sedate and respectable mode of design." 
St. Finbar was a native of Connaught, and it is conjectured that he 
received his education at the school of Clonard. After presiding for 
seventeen years over the diocess with singular piety and edification, 
he resigned it, and retired to a cell in the abbey of Cloyne, to end 
his life in penance, where he died on the 7th of October, but in what 
year is not known. "His body," writes Sir James Ware, "was 
conveyed to Cork, and there honourably buried in his church ; and 
his bones, I know not how long after, were put in a silver shrine." 

According to the authority of the most creditable of our annalists, 
the See of Ross* was founded in the course of the sixth century by 
St. Feachan, who was one of those refulgent luminaries that not 
only irradiated Ireland with learning and religion, but extended the 
halo of their glorious brightness over the mental darkness of Europe, 
in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries. 

St. Feachan built a cathedral, an abbey, and a college here, dur- 
ing his prelacy. The year of the death of " this honest and upright 
divine," as Hanmer designates him, has not been handed down to 
us in history. It is said that he was succeeded in the bishopric by 
St. Connall, and by St. Brendan in the university. The See of Ross 
was united to that of Cork, by order of Queen Elizabeth, in 1583. 
The first Protestant bishop of Cork and Cloyne (the latter See was 
then an adjunct of that bishopric) was Dominick Tirrey, an apos- 
tate Catholic Priest, whom Henry VIII. appointed to that episcopal 
station in consequence of his servility. 

There is a modernized cathechfi] in Ross, but it possesses no archi- 
tective character worthy of description. " On the west," says 
Brewer, " is a tower, surmounted by a spire of hewn stone, 50 feet 
in height. This ornamental spire was recently added (in 1827) by 

* Ross Carbery (anciently designated Ross Mithn-i, or the green of pilgrimage) 
is situated on a rocky summit, which rises over the northern extremity of a hand- 
some bay, in the county of Cork, is distant from Dublin 152 Irish miles. There 
is a fine and majestic pile of abbey ruins here. Several caves, in addition to those 
mentioned by Dr. Smith, of great extent, and divided into chambers, were discov- 
ed, near the abbey of St. Feachan, in 1791 . The houses of Ross are neither pretty 
nor commodious ; but the country of groves and gardens in which it is embosomed^ 
and the spacious bay that rolls its blustering billows before it, impart to it much 
external beauty of sylvan scenery. 



400 

Mr. Michael Shanahan, architect of Cork, under the direction of the 
Dean and chapter." 

The founder of the See of Cloyne was St. Colman, the son of a 
chieftain named Lenin, who was a disciple of St. Finbar, the first 
bishop of Cork. He built at Cloyne a cathedral and an abbey. He 
died on the 4th of November, A. D. 604. St. Brendan, abbot of 
Clonfert, wrote his biography, in which he said of Colman : " he 
was for learning, and a good life, chief among the Irish saints of his 
time. 

On the death of bishop Paye, in 1430, in pursuance of a bull of 
Pope Martin V., which was ratified by the Irish Parliament, the 
Sees of Cork and Cloyne were united.* This union was dissolved 
on the accession of George Synge to the See, in 1638 ; since which 
period Cloyne has continued a distinct and independent bishopric. 
The Protestant cathedral, which stands on the site of the structure 
of St. Colman, is a neat Gothic edifice, which was rebuilt and re- 
edified under the direction of bishop Agar, in 1776. The choir is 
elaborately decorated with Gothic and Italian ornaments. 

To St. Rieran the elder, is to be attributed the institution in A. D. 
540 of the bishopric of Ossory, at Saiger, in the King's county, 
where the saint built a cathedral. We have already given a biogra- 
phical sketch of St. Kieran. This See was translated to a place 
called Aghaboe, in the Queen's county, where St. Canice or Kenny 
erected a monastery in the latter end of the sixth century. St. 
Canice, who acquired such eminence for sanctity and learning, was 
the son of Laidee, a poet famed for his genius and mental powers. 
This saint died at Aghaboe, in the year 599. It is conjectured that 
the removal of the chair of the bishops of Ossory from Sanger to 
Aghaboe, happened in the year A. D. 1052. Of the successors of 
St. Canice in the See of Ossory, there is only an account extant of 
four prelates of the name of Carthaeus, of one Sedna, of two Cor- 
macs, the elder of whom died in A. D. 867, and the younger in 997. 
In 1178, Donald O'Fogarty died bishop of Ossory, after exercising 
the episcopal functions for twenty years. To him succeeded Felix 
O'Dullany. By the permission of the court of Rome, bishop O'DuI- 
lany, shortly after his accession, removed his episcopal throne from 
Aghaboe to Kilkenny, where he laid the foundation of the cathedral, 
wliich he dedicated to St. Kenny, whose remains he caused to be 
enshrined in it.t This prelate died in 1202, and his body was in- 

* The pleasant and rural town of Cloyne, is situated on a summit, that rises 
above a vale, in the barony of Imo-Killy, county of Cork, at the distance of twelve 
miles from the city, one from the sea, and ten from the town of Youghal. In the 
cemetery which surrounds the ruins of St. Colman's abbey, are several sepulchral 
erections, which are marked with a very antique character. Contiguous to the 
church is a magnificent round tower, which rises to the elevation of ninety-two 
feet. In a disquisition on ancient Irish architecture, which we will write as soon 
as we shall have brought down our history to the eleventh century, we will amply 
treat of the round towers, as well as of the other ancient monuments with which 
Ireland abounds. 

t We extract the following spirited description of the cathedral of Kilkenny, 
from Mr. Brewer's work : — " The cathedral of St. Canice is an extensive and 
commanding pile, seated on a gentle eminence, whence are obtained fine views 
over the city, and along the winding banks of the river Nore. This church is of a 



401 

terred in a grand tomb in St. Mary's monastery, at Jeripont abbey, 
county of Kilkenny. 

This diocess, according to the statistical survey of the late Dr. 
Beaufort, is 36 miles in length, and 23 in breadth. It is a remarka- 
ble fact in the history of the bishopric of Ossory, that two of its pre- 
lates were Lord Justices of Ireland,— four Lord Chancellors; three 
Lord Treasurers; three translated to archbishoprics ; one an Am- 
bassador ; and one a Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

The first Protestant bishop of the See of Ossory, was John Bale, 
a degraded English Carmelite, to whom, in the year 1552, as a re- 
ward for his abjuration of his religion, the ministry of Edward VI. 
presented the mitre of Ossory ; but he was not in the enjoyment of 
his episcopal dignity more than six months, when Queen Mary as- 
cended the throne of her ancestors, and ordered his expulsion from 
the See. 

The bishopric of Derry was founded by St. Eugene, after he had 
been consecrated by St. Patrick, in A. D. 545. This saint erected 
the primitive cathedral of the diocess of Derry, at Ard-sraih, in the 
county of Antrim.* 

" St. Eugene," says Sir James Ware, " was a great and industri- 
ous preacher, and born of the blood royal of Leinster." This emi- 

cruciform shape, surmounted with a low tower. The length from east to west is 
226 feet, in the clear ; arid the breadth of the cross, from north to south, 123 feet ; 
" dimensions," writes Mr. Harris, " which are believed to exceed those of any 
other church in Ireland, except St. Patrick's and Christ church, Dublin." In the 
north transept is a chapel dedicated to St. Mary, long used as the parish church. 
In the same transept may also be noticed the remains of a fixed stone seat, locally 
called the chair of St. Kieran. 

The eastern part of the church, comprising the choir and chancel, is seventy- 
seven feet in length. The bishop's throne, the seats, and the gallery are of var- 
nished oak ; the whole being conspicuous for a sedate simplicity. At the east 
end is a very lofty window, divided into three lights of the lancet form on the ex- 
terior, but each compartment finishing, internally, with a trefoil head. We are 
informed by Ware, that bishop Ledred, soon after the year 1318, expended large 
sums in embellishing his cathedral, and particularly in filling the windows with 
stained glass. His liberality was eminently displayed in this eastern window, the 
paintings of which represented the history of Christ, from the birth to the ascen- 
sion. Rinuncini, legate to the Catholics of Ireland during the troubles of the 
seventeenth century, is said to have offered £700 for the glass of this window, 
which offer was declined ; but, unhappily, the glass was destroyed, in 1650, by the 
fanatics of that gloomy period. Some mutilated fragments were afterwards col- 
lected by bishop Pococke, and placed in two ovals over the western door. 

The nave is divided from its side aisles by pointed arches, iinornamented, and 
supported by pillars composed of black marble. The side aisles are lighted by 
pointed windows, and the body of the church by windows of quatrefoil shape, 
placed in a clerestory. In the side aisles, and between the pillars, are numerous 
altar-monuments. The long succession of these sepulchral memorials adds great- 
ly to the impressive effect of this division of the structure ; and we have rarely 
seen the interior of an ecclesiastical building, which at the same time was so little 
indebted to architectural effort, and possessed so imperative a sway over the feel- 
ings." 

* Jird-srath, (or according to its proper Irish orthography, Ard-traig, literally 
the height of the strand) is situated on the river Derg, in the county of Antrim. 
The abbey erected by St. Eugene, is now an ivy-covered heap of ruins. The ca- 
thedral built there by that saint, was dedicated to his friend and instructor St. Lu- 
rocli. At that place there is a high mound or rath, which forms a pleasing feature 
in the landscape. 

51 



402 

nent and exemplary ecclesiastic died at Ard-srath, the 23d of Au- 
gust, A. D. 618. His remains were entombed under the altar of his 
own cathedral. His successor, whose name has not been handed 
down to us, in the episcopal office, commenced his administration 
by translating the chair of the See to Maghera,* where it remained 
until A. D. 927, when it was removed to Derry, by Coen Cnmrach, 
where he repaired and re-edified the church built by St. Columba, 
in the year 543, and converted that edifice into a cathedral, and 
dedicated it to its founder.! The bishops of Derry assumed the title 
of bishops of Rathlure, another name for Ardsrath, in honour of its 
patron Saint, Luroch ; hence all the bishops that governed the See, 
from Eugene to the time (1152) of Flathbert O'Brolcan, were styled 
Rathlurienses, until the year 1158, when the Synod, held at Brith- 
thaig, consisting of the Pope's Legate, the bishop of Lismore and 
twenty-five other prelates, enacted and decreed that all the future 
bishops of the diocess should be known and distinguished by the ap- 
pellation of Derry. 

Bishop Brolcan made extensive improvements in the Cathedral 
of Derry, in 1163, which work he was assisted to complete by muni- 
ficent pecuniary contributions from Maurice McLoughlin, King of 
Ireland. 

In 1152, Cardinal Paparo, the legate of Pope Eugene IH. confer- 
red on Maurice O'Coffy, then bishop of Derry, the title of prelate of 
Keanla Eogain, or Tyrone. This bishop died in February, 1174, and 
his body was buried in the cathedral of St. Columb Kill. Sir James 
Ware, to whose authority, on this subject, every historian of Ireland 
will have to refer, does not state that the See of Derry was occupied 
by any Protestant prelate before the accession to it, in 1605, of 
George Montgomery, a Scotchman, who was appointed by that un- 
grateful and fanatical regal pedant, James I. 

The bishopric of Kilraore owes its primitive establishment, in the 
sixth century, to St. Feidlimid, who erected a church at a small vil- 
lage called Triburna, in the county of Cavan, from which place the 
future bishops took their title, until the year 1454, when Pope Nicho- 
las V. issued a bull, empowering Andrew McBrady, then bishop of 
Triburna, to remove the episcopal chair to Kilmore, and to make 
that town his prelatical name. Bishop McBrady erected a cathe- 
dral at Kilmore, which he dedicated to the patron saint of the parish 
(Feidlimid) and placed in it twelve canons. j " This erection," says 
Sir James Ware, " was confirmed in the following year by Pope 

* Mashera is a small hamlet town in the barony of Loughlinsholen,cov3nty of 
Derry. 

t The Cathedral, which stands on an eminence, by recent repairs, has been in- 
vested with architectural features, which make it appear a respectable religious 
edifice. A recent writer in describing the cathedral of Derry, says — " its angles 
are furnished with octagon cupolas, which display considerable taste ; its spire is 
handsome, and on the eastern end there is a cross, after the manner of the old Ro- 
man Catholic churches. The inside is neat, if not elegant. It has ten fine-toned 
bells, and an excellent organ. 

X Kilmore, (the great church) is a small village in the barony of Loughtee, 
county of Cavan. This place owes its name and origin to the circumstance of St. 
Columb Kill, having erected an abbey in it in the sixth century. 



403 

Calistus III. ; and about the same time, if I mistake not, the deanery 
of Kilmore was constituted. As for St. Feidlimid, he lived in the 
sixth century, and was brother to St. Diarmistius, abbot of Innis- 
Cloghran* St. Feidlimid died on the ninth of August, but in what 
year I know not." The See was anciently designated BreflTeny, 
from that being the ancient name of the districts now known by the 
appellations of Cavan and Leitrim, and then possessed, until the 
year 1641, by the septs of the O'Reilly, O'Rourke, O'Brady, O'- 
Curry, O'Sheridan, McKiernan and McGaurall. Bishop McBrady 
died in the year 145G. 

"There is," says Sir James Ware, "no mention of the diocess of 
Kilmore, in the decision of Sees, made at the Synod held under 
Cardinal John Paparo, in March, A. D. 1152." The first Protest- 
ant bishop of Kilmore, appointed by Elizabeth in 1585, was John 
Garvy, a Priest who had been suspended, for immoral conduct, by 
his predecessor, Edmund Nugent. 

The See of Ardagh, in the county of Longford, is certainly the 
most ancient in Ireland, for it was founded by St. Patrick, in A. D. 
488, who nominated and appointed his nephew, St. Mela, or Moel, 
its first bishop. This Saint died the 6th of February, in the first 
year of his episcopal administration. His successor was his brother, 
St. Melchuo, who died shortly after his elevation to the bishopric. 

From the death of St. Melchuo until the accession of St. Erard, 
in the middle of the eighth century, we have no record of the bishops 
who ruled the See of Ardagh during the intervening period. " This 
Saint," writes Ware, "together with his brothers, Saints Albert and 
Hildulph, and other nineteen associates, left their own country about 
the middle of the eighth century, and went into Germany, where 
they laboured much in the propagation of Christianity. St. Erard 
died at Ratisbon, on the 8th of January, and was buried in a nun- 
nery ; but the certain year of his death I do not find. He was 
canonized by Pope Leo IX. in A. D. 1052." The first Protest- 
ant bishop of the See of Ardagh, was Lisack O'Farrell, who was ap- 
pointed, in the room of his predecessor, Patrick McMahon, by 
Queen Elizabeth, in A. D. 1577. 

The See of Ardaght was united to that of Kilmore, in the year 
1658, and this union was not dissolved until bishop Ulysses Burgh, 
was, in 1692, invested with its distinct and separate episcopal pre- 
rogatives, by King William HI. On the death of that bishop in the 
same year, it was again made subject to the diocess of Kilmore, and 
continued so until the year 1741, when it was united under the pre- 

* Innis-Cloghran (the stony island) is situated on the river Shannon, near 
Lough-Ree, and between the counties of West Meath and Roscommon. 

t Ardagh (the elevated hill) is situated in the barony of the same name, in the 
middle of the county of Longford, about six Irish miles S. W. of Edgworthstown. 
Of its ancient cathedral and other ecclesiastical erections, only scanty mural frag- 
ments now remain. " The chief interest of this place," says Brewer, " proceeds 
from its former importance in ecclesiastical history. Here are no traces of archi- 
tectural splendour to arrest the attention." The modern parochial church for 
Protestant worship, is a building of extent and elegance. The country around 
Ardagh, through a contiguous part of which the Shannon runs, is fertile and pic- 
turesque. 



404 

lacy of Dr. Hart, to the archiepiscopal See of Tuam, with which it 
has ever since been held in commendam. Under the control of this 
diocess are thirty-seven parishes, situated in the counties of Long- 
ford, Leitrim, Cavan, Sligo, Roscommon, and West Meath. 

The See of Elphin, in the county of Roscommon, was established 
by St. Patrick in A. D. 500, who consecrated St. Asic its first bishop. 
The cathedral built under the direction of St. Patrick, was dedicated 
to the Blessed Virgin. " St. Asic," writes Sir James Ware, " was a 
most excellent goldsmith, and by his art beautified the cathedral 
with six pieces of curious workmanship. This prelate built a col- 
lege at Elphin, which he filled with monks. He died at Rathcung, 
in Tirconnell, where he was buried." Before the English invasion, 
the See of Elphin held episcopal dominion over seventy-nine par- 
ishes in the counties of Roscommon, Sligo, Galway, and Mayo. 

The first Prorestant prelate of Elphin,* was Roland de Burgo, 
who renounced the religion of his fathers, and violated his solemn 
vows as a Catholic Priest, to gain this bishopric from the ministers 
of Edward VI. He was appointed in A. D. 1552. 

The See of Clonfert, in the county of Galway, was founded in the 
middle of the sixth century, by St. Brendan, son of Finlog, who was 
a contemporary, and of the same christian name with his fellow- 
student, St. Brendan of Birr, in the King's county. St. Brendan 
was a native of the county of Kerry, the author of works entitled 
the " Christian Confession, Charter of Heaven, and Rules for Monks.^' 
St. Brendan died on the first of March, A. D. 571. Tiie first Pro- 
testant bishop of Clonfert was Richard Nangle, who acknowledged 
the supremacy of Henry VIH., in consequence of which Pope 
Clement VII., in the year 1534, caused the archbishop of Ireland to 
deprive him of all episcopal authority. To this diocess that oi Kil- 
macduacJc, in the county of Galway, has been subject since the year 
1602.f 

The bishopric of Kilmacduach, county of Galway, was first estab- 
lished by St. Colman son of Duach, in the sixth century, " descended," 
says Sir James Ware, " of the noble family of the Hysiacris in Con- 
naught, which from him is called Kilmacduach." In what year he 
died cannot be ascertained. We have no account of his successors, 
until the year 814, when a divine of the name of Indrect governed 
the See. 

The first Protestant bishop of this See was Stephen Kirwin, an 
apostate from Catholicity, whom Elizabeth elevated to the prelati- 
cal dignity, in consequence of his recession from the ancient faith 

* Elphin is a small market and post town, in the county of Roscommon, about 
100 miles from Dublin, in a N. W. direction. In the year 1177, the English 
burned down Elphin. The cathedral, or rathef parish church of that place, is a 
respectable edifice. 

t Clonfert (the secret den of wonders) is a small village, situated in the ba- 
rony of Longford, county of Galway, at the distance of about sixty-five Irish miles 
from Dublin. In ancient times the cathedral of this place was famed for its seven 
marble altars- The remains of tlje cathedral, still to \>e seen liere, are but the 
fragments of the west front portico, which was erected to ornament the edifice, in 
1270, by John, bishop of (Clonfert, (an Italian) who was then the Pope's Nuncio 
in Ireland, are yet brilliant speciniens of architecture and sculpture. 



405 

of Ireland. Under his episcopal sway the Sees of Clonfert and Kii- 
macdiiach were united.* 

The small See of Fenaboii or Rilfenora, in the county of Clare, 
was instituted by St. Fechin in the sixth century. Of that Saint we 
have already spoken. This See was united to that of Killaloe, in 
the year 1752. The bishopric contains only eighteen parishes, and 
is esteemed the poorest prelacy in Ireland. The first Protestant 
bishop of Fenabou was Jolin O'Hanlon, who was promoted for his 
apostacy to tiie episcopal authority of this diocess, by the ministers 
of Edward Vf. In the year 1622, Richard Betts, an Enj^lishman, 
on being appointed bishop of Fenabou, by Charles I., declined con- 
secration, on account of the scanty revenue which the See then 
yielded. t 

The See of Killaloe, in the county of Clare, was founded in A. D. 
639, by St. Flannan, the son of King Theodorick, and the disciple 
of St. Molua. This St. Flannan made a journey to Rome, where 
his eloquence, learning, and piety attracted the notice of Pope John 
IV., who in consequence, consecrated him bishop of Killaloe. 

There is no account, until the arrival of the English, extant of the 
successors of St. Flannan, if we except five, nainely, Carmacan O'- 
Muilcashol, who died A. D. 1019 ; O'Gernidider, died 1055; T/iadt/r 
died 1083; Teig, (whom Ware designates ' a learned and liberal man') 
died in 1161 ; and Donough O'Brien, son of the Prince of Thomond^ 
who died in the year 1165. 

In the twelfth century this See was incorporated with the ancient 
bishopric of Roscrea, in the county of Tipperary, and in the year 
1752, the diocess of Kilfenora, of which we have already written, 
was added to the union. The first Protestant bishop of Killaloe 
was Cornelius O'Dee, a reprobate priest, and a former chaplain to 
Maurice O'Brien of Thomond, to whom, in consequence of his re- 
cantation, Henry VIII. in 1546, assigned the mitre of this See.f 
The bishopric of Killaloe holds ecclesiastical jurisdiction over par- 

* KiLMACDUACH (signifying in the Irish language the church of the son of the 
black) is situated in the barony of Kiltartan, county of Galway, at the distance of 
two miles from the town of Gort. '■' The church, though small," writes Wenman 
Seward, author of the Topographia Hibernica, " was a very neat building; — the 
pillars and arches from the entrance to the altar part, and those of the east window, 
were finished in an elegant style. There is also a holy well here, with a circular 
enclosure. The round tower at this place, leans 17 1-2 feet from its perpendicu- 
lar." The country which spreads out its richness and fertility here, has every at- 
tribute to command the admiration of the lovers of fine and imposing scenery. 

t Kilfenora, a small village in the barony of Corcomroe, county of Clare, is 
situated in a very pretty part of that county. Seward, in his topographical dic- 
tionary, says of this place : " the cathedral is very ancient, but in good repair, — 
the nave is full of old family ornaments, and in the choir is that of St. Feclinan, 
its original founder." There are here, also, seven stone crosses, ingeniously 
sculptured. 

t Killaloe (originally written Kil-dalua, or the ch arch of St. Molua, the 
founder of the abbey) is situated in the barony of Tullagh, on the banks of the 
river Shannon, county of Clare, at the distance of 86 Irish miles from Dublin. 
The cathedral, originally erected in A. D. 1160, by Daniel O'Brien, King of Lim- 
erick, is a venerable pile, built in the form of a cross, of two hundred feet in length. 
The large Gothic window, over the eastern portal, is elaborately enriched with 
sculptural mouldings and ornaments. There are several monastic, martial, and 
sepulchral ruins to be seen in Killaloe. 



406 

islies in the counties of Clare, Tipperary, Limerick, and Galway, as 
well as in the Ring's and Queen's counties. 

The See of Killala, in the county of Mayo, was founded by St. 
Muredach, one of the disciples of St. Patrick, in the beginning of the 
sixth century. In the year 1007, by order of James I., the bishopric 
of Aclionry, in the county of Sligo, was united to that of Killala. 
The first Protestant bishop of Killala was Eugene O'Connor, who, 
on making submission to Queen Elizabeth, and renouncing his re- 
ligion, was invested with the episcopal rights and dignities of this 
See.* 

The ancient See of Achonry, in the county of Sligo, owes its es- 
tablishment, in the year 530, to St. Finian, the illustrious bishop of 
Clonard. He appointed and consecrated his scholar, St. Nathy, its 
first prelate. From the period of the foundation of that diocess un- 
til the accession, in A. D. 1170, of Bishop O'Ruadan, we are left 
without any account of the successors of Nathy. In the year 1607, 
this See was united to that of Killala. t 

To St. Colman, the son of a chieftain of Ardes, county of Down, 
is the See of Dromore indebted for its origin and erection in the 
year of 516. He erected a cathedral and an abbey here soon after 
his elevation to the episcopal throne ; the latter is now a pile of 
ruins, and on the site of the former stands the Protestant church. 
Before St. Colman obtained the mitre of Dromore, he was abbot of 
Mockmarragh, county of Antrim. Of the successors of St. Colman 
we have no historical relation, until the year 1101, when Rigan as- 
sumed the episcopal authority of Dromore. | 

John Todd, an Englishman, was the first Protestant bishop of 
Dromore, to which dignity he was raised by Queen Elizabeth, shortly 
after her accession to the British throne. 

In the year 1661, King Charles II. appointed the celebrated Jere- 
my Taylor bishop of Dromore. That prelate rebuilt the cathedral, 
in the cemetery of which his remains, as well as those of three of 
his successors, bishops Rust, Digby, and Wiseman are interred. 
The episcopal privileges of this See extend over parts of the coun- 

* Killala, a large market and post town, is situated on an arm of the great 
Atlantic Ocean, in the barony of Tirawly, county of Mayo, at the distance of one 
hundred and twenty-seven Irish miles from Dublin. The old cathedral stands on 
an insulated eminence in the middle of the tovrn. Here is a noble round tower, 
of which, in a future chapter, we shall give a description. The country in which 
Killala is, if we may use the word, crescenled, is beautiful, interesting, and pic- 
turesque, as it is finely diversified and ornamented by cultivated domains, flowery 
lawns, fertile corn-fields, and blue-rushing rivers, — all presenting the great charm 
of scenic effect. 

t Achonry is a rural village, situated in the barony of Leney, at the distance of 
sixteen Irish miles S. W. from the town of Sligo. 

I Dromore (signifying in Irish tiie great back of a hill) is a large and populous 
town, situated in the barony of Iveagh, county of Down, at the distance of 84 
English miles north from Dublin. The beautiful river Lagan runs through this 
town, to which its pastoral banks, studded with embowered villas, and fringed 
with bleach greens, impart scenic charms of the most sylvan aspect. In the vi- 
cinity of Dromore is a lofty and large Rath, from the green summit of which a 
noble and expansive prospect of the surrounding counties can be commanded. 
There are feudal and monastic ruins in Dromore, calculated to awake the reflec- 
tions of the moralist, and the attention of the antiquarian. 



407 

ties of Armagh, Down, and Antrim. "The chapter of this diocess," 
writes Seward, " was remodelled, with some peculiar privileges, by 
a patent of King James I. Among other marks of royal favour, he 
distinguishes the hishops of this See by the style of 'A. B. by divine 
Providence, Bishop of Dromore,' — whereas all other bishops in Ire- 
land, except those of Meath and Kildare, are styled by divine per- 
jnission. The cathedral of Dromore is a small but graceful edifice. 

The bishopric of Down was founded in the sixth century, by St. 
Cailan, an Irishman, who had been abbot of Nendrum, England. He 
was consecrated by his fellow-student, St. Blacnisius, then bishop of 
Connor. The year of St. Cailan's death is not stated in any his- 
tory of Down, that we have seen. It appears, however, that he was 
succeeded in the See of Down, by St. Fergus, abbot of Killagan, 
county of Antrim, in A. D. 580. " St. Fergus," writes Ware, "son 
of Engus, was of the blood royal of Ireland. He died on the 30th 
of March, A. D. 583. As for his successors I have not, I confess, 
found mention made of any bishop of Down for many centuries 
after, except one called O'Flaherty, who, according to the annals 
of the priory of the island of AH Saints, died in 1043. And it seems 
probable enough that almost all that time, this See had no particu- 
lar bishop, but was comprehended in the diocess of Connor." 

The original cathedral erected by St. Cailan, was dedicated to the 
Holy Trinity, but on the accession of Malachy III. in 1178, the ca- 
thedral was rebuilt, chiefly at the expense of John de Courcy, then 
Lord deputy of Ireland ; and, at his request, the bishop consecrated 
it to the memory of St. Patrick, — " whereby," says Christopher 
Pembridge, in his annals, " it was believed that De Courcy drew upon 
himself those many misfortunes that afterwards attended him." 
Bishop Malachy, who expended all his revenues on the repairs of 
the cathedral, and the endowment of the abbey, died at Down Pat- 
rick, in the year 1201.* The Sees of Down and Connor were uni- 
ted in A, D. 1442, which conjunction continues still. 

The founder in the year 507, of the bishopric of Connor, was St. 
Aengus Macnisius, the son of Fobrec. " He died," says Sir James 
Ware, " a venerable old man, on the 3d of September, A. D. 514." 
There is but little recorded of his successors, for the centuries that 
elapsed from his death to the arrival of Cardinal John Paparo, as 
the Pope's legate, in the year 1152, when Patrick O'Baman was 
prelate. In 1442 Pope Eugene lY. issued a bull directed to the 
archbishop of Armagh, ordering the union, under the prelacy of 
John, of the Sees of Down and Connor.t Pope Paul III. conferred 

* Down Patrick (or the sacred hill of the Irish Apostle) is the capital of the 
county of Down, and is distinguished for the beauty and romanticity of its situa- 
tion, and the wealth and industry of its inhabitants. It is most advantageously 
situated, in the midst of a rich and cultivated country, distant from the metropolis 
of Ireland, 72 Irish miles; and from the capacious bay of Strangford , only 7, in a 
western direction. In a future chapter a more copious description of this towtt 
shall be given, — for it is a place of historic recollections — and the scene of memo- 
rable transactions. The splendid tomb in which the remains of Saints Patrick, 
Columb Kill, and Bridgid were deposited, was destroyed, in 1538, by the then 
Lord Deputy, Leonard de Grey, by whose orders the cathedral was set on fire. 

t Connor, a small village, in the county of Antrim, which has dwindled to de- 
cay, having now nothing to show but the ruins of its ancient cathedra], in attesta- 



408 

the See of Connor on Eugene Magenis ; who, in 1541, acknow- 
ledged the supremacy of Henry VIII., and in consequence, retained 
the prelacy until his death, which happened in the second year of 
the reign of Elizabeth. 

The bishopric of Glogher, in the county of Tyrone, was established 
originally, as the antiquarians tell us, by St. Patrick,— for Jocelyn, 
in his life of the national apostle of Ireland, writes — " that the cathe- 
dral church of Ciogher, was founded by St. Patrick at first, even 
before the church of Armagh was built." Our patron Saint conse- 
crated McCartin, who was descended of a noble family, the first 
bishop of that See. Bishop McCartin built a cathedral and an ab- 
bey there in the year 504. That prelate died in A. D. 506. His 
successor was St. Tigernac, who, on attaining the mitre, removed 
his episcopal chair to Clones, in the county of Monaghan, where he 
died, the 5th of April, A. D. 550. 

In the year 1395, while bishop Arthur Cammell was engaged in 
rebuilding the cathedral of Ciogher, a great fire took place, which 
destroyed that edifice, St. Mary's abbey, three chapels, and the 
bishop's palace. " But," says Ware, " by the care and industry of 
this bishop, the church, abbey, and palace were speedily rebuilt." 
Until the year 1252, the bishops of Ciogher exercised episcopal ju- 
risdiction over the church of Louth, and the three deaneries of Dun- 
dalk, Drogheda, and Ardee, which are now subject to the archiepis- 
eopal See of Armagh. Miler Magrath, appointed by Queen Eliza- 
beth, was the first Protestant bishop of Ciogher. The cathedral of 
Ciogher is in good repair.* 

The See of Raphoe, in the county of Donegal, was founded in the 
middle of the sixth century by St. Eunan. This Saint erected here, 
shortly after his consecration, a church and an abbey, which were 
enlarged and repaired in the eleventh century, by one of his succes- 
sors. History has not preserved the names of those bishops who 
were the immediate successors of St. Eunan, in the See of Raphoe. 
The first prelate, Gilbert O'Caran, of whom Ware and Harris make 
mention, obtained the mitre of this diocess in A. D. 1172. In A. D. 
1360, Patrick Magonail, the then bishop, improved and re-edified 
the cathedral, and built a magnificent episcopal palace here. He set 
tip a large marble cross, which was finely sculptured, in the cathe- 
dral, which remained there until bishop O'Gallagher, in the year 
1438, had it removed to the city of Armagh, where it stood a vener- 
able relic of piety, and an impressive monument of ancient irt, un- 
til July 1816, when a vandal gang of Orangemen broke it into pieces. 
The author of this history has often seen and admired that magnifi- 
cent cross, ere it was demolished by the Orange Goths. George 
Montgomery, a Scotchman, was the first Protestant prelate of Ra- 
phoe.t 

tion of its primitive consequence. The distance of Connor from Dublin is 89 
Irish miles. 

* Clogher (in Irish the golden stone) is a large town situated on the banks of 
the river Launy, in the county of Tyrone, at the distance of 104 English miles 
from Dublin. 

t Raphoe is situated in the county of Donegal, at the distance of 142 English 
miles from Dublin. It is not a flourishing town, as the proprietors of the soil are 



409 

The bishopric of Kildare was established by St. Conlath in A. D. 
519. This Saint, as we have before related, in the biography of St. 
Brigid, died in the first year of his administration. Historical re- 
searches have failed in developing any authentic annals of the bish- 
ops that presided over this See, from the death of its founder to the 
arrival of the eleventh century. The first Protestant bishop of Kil- 
dare was William Miagh, elevated in 1548 by King Henry VHI.* 

By St. Lascerian in A. D. 632, was established the bishopric of 
Leighlin, in the county of Carlow'. He went to Rome for the pur- 
pose of being consecrated by Pope Honorius I. That Pontiff" was 
so pleased with the learning and piety of Lascerian, that he ap- 
pointed him his legate in Ireland. This Saint died at his episcopal 
seat at Leighlin, in the year 639. 

The first Protestant bishop of this See was Matthew Sanders, 
who conformed to the decree of Henry VHI. In the year 1600, the 
bishopric of Leighlin was united to that of Ferns, which union still 
subsists. The diocess of Leighlin comprises eighty-nine parishes in 
the counties of Wicklow, Carlow, Kilkenny, and in the Queen's 
county. t 

The original establtsher, and the first bishop of Ferns, in the 
county of Wexford, was St. Aedan, or as he has been designated by 
some of our annalists, Blaodhog. According to Ware, he was con- 
secrated in the year 598, who in relation to him writes — "St. Aedan, 
with the consent of a great synod of L-ish prelates, made Ferns the 
metropolis of all Leinster." " A great citi/," says one of the biogra- 
phers of that Saint, '■^ grew up there in honour of him, and was called 
Ferns, — and afterwards a great Synod being assembled in Leinster, 
King Hrandubh, with the clergy and laity, decreed that the archbishop- 
ric of all Leinster should always be in the See of St. Maodhog." 

The saintly bishop died, very old, at the abbey of Timolin, county 
of Kildare, two years after he had resigned, in consequence of indis- 
position, the See of Ferns, in A. D. 632. He was succeded by St. 
Moling, whom Gerald Barry, in his Topography of Ireland, styles 
one of the " four prophets of Ireland." St. Moling died in the year 
697. Hugh Allen, an Englishman, was the first Protestant bishop 
of Ferns. 

absentees, and the country around it is not "fertile. The bishop's palace is a cas- 
tellated edifice, in which the antique and modern architective ornaments are finely- 
contrasted, so as to produce a picturesque effect. 

* Kildare is situated on an eminence which is belted by wood-clad hills, in the. 
barony of Ophaly , at the distance of 32 English miles from Dublin, in a south west 
direction. It is gradually sinking to decay. As this town is the scene of many 
memorable events, commemorated in Irish history, and as its fallen bu«t sublime 
monuments of religious and feudal architecture, possess such impressive attrac- 
tions for the lovers of the antique, we will reserve our description of it for another 
chapter. 

t Leighlin, anciently a city of episcopal and municipal consequence, in the 
county of Carlow, is now but a small village, without any legitimate pretensions 
to the pride of wealth, or to the weal of prosperity. Its majestic ruins alone re- 
main as monuments of its past importance. There is a small cathedral here, but 
its architectural appearance is not very interesting. Leighlin is distant from the 
city of Dublin about 43 Irish miles. The country in which it is encircled, is beau- 
tiful, — as the scenery of the river Barrow, which glides near this town, presents 
the most interesting features of landscape charms. 
52 



410 

" It should be observed," says an intelligent writer on this sub- 
ject, " that the prelates presiding over the See of Ferns, were often 
styled bishops of Wexford, and it is supposed that several enter- 
tained the design of removing the See to that more populous town." 
Bishop Devereaux, the last Catholic bishop that enjoyed the reve- 
nues of this See, was preparing, in 1573, five years before his death, 
to make a journey to Rome, in order to solicit the Pope for the re- 
moval of his episcopal chair to Wexford. The bishopric of Ferns 
comprehends a space of country of about forty-six miles in length, 
and eighteen in breadth.* 



CHAPTER LVII. 



The reign of King Aodlc VI. — The first invasion of the Danes ; and the different 
designations bestowed upon them hy the Irish. 

Having in the preceding chapter given what we deemed condu- 
cive and necessary to the general interest of our History, a brief ac- 
count of the Episcopal Sees of Ireland, and a summary biography 
of their saintly founders, we now return to the continued narration 
of the reigns of our succeeding monarchs — and of the events which 
happened during their prevalence. On the death of the last mon- 
arch, Donachad, Aodh or Hugh VI., the son of Nial Friasach, was 
elected King of Ireland, A. D. 979. Early in his reign the Danes 
effected a landing on the island of Rathlin, opposite Bally Castle, in 
the county of Antrim. t As soon as they had obtained possession of 

'' Ferns (or Fernegenall, or the pretty place) is a small town, situated in the 
barony of Scarwalsh, county of Wexford, at the distance of 73 English miles from 
the city of Dublin. Time and circumstance have reduced the once proud capital 
of Leinster to the humility of a poor and pretty village. The palace of the Pro- 
testant bishop is the only architective ornament of the town of Ferns. 

t Rathlin (in Irish, Rath Lionad, or the Fort of the tide) is situated about eight 
miles from that part of the Giant's causeway, called Kenbane, or Whitehead, in 
the county of Antrim. With this island are associated many historical recollec- 
tions. " It abounds," writes Seward, " with some curious arrangements of co- 
lumnar basaltes; and is near five miles in length, and about three and a half in 
breadth. Rathlin has formerly been, as it were, a stepping stone between the 
Irish and the Scottish coasts, which the natives of each country alternately used 
in their various expeditions, and for which they frequently fought. During the 
disturbances in Scotland between Baliol and Robert Bruce, the latter was obliged 
to take shelter here with a friend of his; — the remains of a fortress are yet visible 
in the north angle of the island, celebrated for the defence which this hero made 
in it, and is, to this day, known by the name of Bruce' s Castle." 

By a late statistical survey of this island (taken in 1833) it appears that its area 
covered an extent of the sea of 2000 plantation acres, and that its population 
amounted to 1140 souls. The island produces fine barley, and the kelp that is 
manufactured in it is considered the best in Ireland. On one of the summits of 
this island, 238 feet above the marine level, is a lucid lake of the clearest water. 
Many, bloody, and desperate, were the battles which were fought in Rathlin, be- 
tween the Irish and the Scotch. About the middle of the sixth century a monas- 
tery was erected here by St. Columbanus, which the Danes in 790 plundered and 
burned. 



411 

the island, they proceeded to commit the most barbarous excesses — 
they slew St. Feradagh, the abbot of that place, at the very altar, 
— despoiled the shrines, and then set fire to every town in the de- 
voted island. We will conclude this chapter by an extract from 
McDermott's History of Ireland, — an extract that throws a lumi- 
nous blaze of intelligence and illustration on the invasion of the 
Danes, and on the great events occurring in Ireland during the eighth 
and ninth centuries. 

" The writers who treat of this period of our history, commence 
with an inquiry into the origin of these barbarians, who were a 
scourge not only to Ireland, but to all Europe, for more than 200 
years ; and yet historians are not sufficiently agreed as to the causes 
that gave birth to their sudden irrupti'ons into the southern parts of 
Europe. This is the more surprising, as all Europe had an interest 
in recording their history. The opinion that has gained most cre- 
dence is, that people multiply and increase faster in the cold north- 
ern than in the southern climates ; that the Danes, Swedes, Nor- 
mans, and other northern nations became consequently overstocked 
with inhabitants, and were obliged to send the over-abundant popu- 
lation to seek their fortunes in other climes. To this conjecture is 
added the great plenty of materials for shipping with which the 
north is supplied, a circumstance which is supposed to have given 
theni a pre-disposition for a naval life. This, however, is a doubt- 
ful hypothesis, and accordingly it is rejected by some writers. ' If 
ancient historians,' says Mr. O'Halloran, ' are sometimes censurable 
for too easy a credence of historical relations, and for mixing fable 
with history, what shall we say to modern writers who oppose their 
own assumptions to both. It must be confessed, that with respect 
to the depredations of the northern pirates, we have little of certain- 
ty to explain to us the cause why for above two centuries, the Euro- 
pean seas should be covered with lawless pirates, and diflerent na- 
tions felt the force of their power; and why these different depreda- 
tions should begin almost everywhere about the same time, and 
cease at nearly an equal period ? !*'emblance of truth too often pre- 
cludes truth, and superficial readers sometimes embrace the shadow 
for the substance. 

' The cause of the bursting forth of such numerous northern hives, 
at this time, has been attributed to a superabundance of inhabitants. 
The north, say lazy speculatists, has been always a country the most 
prolific ; it is the officina ct vaghia gentium. But, however plausible 
this appears, like many other refined theories of modern historians, 
it is but a bare assumption. Every evidence that can be demanded, 
proves, that at all periods, population has been greater in the south- 
ern than in northern climates. The great quantity of unreclaimed 
ground, even to this day, in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, shews 
these countries were never overstocked with inhabitants. Whole 
tracts, covered with woods, and the amazing quantities of it exported, 
particularly from Norway, prove the thinness of its inhabitants. 
What are Copenhagen, Stockholm, or Drontheim, compared for ex- 
tent or inhabitants, to London, Paris, or Dublin 1 Or what the in- 
habitants of Europe to those of Asia 7 Population, to a certainty. 



413 

is much greater in warm than in cold cUmates ; but, were we to 
grant the reverse to be the case, why confine this amazing conflux 
of people to particular periods ? Nature is uniform in all her effects, 
and the same cause that produced a plethora of inhabitants at one 
particular period, should, whilst existing, at every other.' 

These arguments appear to me philosophical and just, for I can 
see no reason why the north of Europe should teem with inhabitants 
at this particular period more than at any other. But it often hap- 
pens that we possess penetration enough to discover the defects of a 
theory without being able to establish a better: and it seems to me 
that the cause which Mr. O'Halloran assigns for the depredations of 
the nortliern barbarians is not more satisfactory than that which he 
has rejected. 'We have already noted,' says he, 'how anxious 
Charlemagne and Pepin, their predecessors, were to convert the 
northern nations of Germany, and the active part which the Irish 
missionaries took in this great work. In all appearance, policy 
united with religion in these pursuits, as every convert they made 
was a new subject acquired. These German nations, who so man- 
fully defended their liberties, plainly saw that the religion of the in- 
vaders was as inimical as their swords, and began to form a general 
confederacy against both. Driven into a narrower compass they 
became more compact and numerous, and their religion and their 
liberties being equally the objects of these conquerors, they confed- 
erated to defend both. Not numerous enough to face their enemies 
by land, and being powerful at sea, they determined to make their 
diversions this way. Very probably necessity first drove them to try 
the expedient, and unexpected success increased their confidence. 
The historian, Mezaray, attributes the depredations of these north- 
ern nations to their love of liberty, and their detestation of those 
priests and religions who destroyed their gods and their altars. 
Hence, says he, their greatest cruelty was exercised on monks and 
monasteries. For this reason it is, that they are frequently styled, 
in our annals, dubh-geinte, or black infidels, and Jion-geinte, or white 
infidels; and as a farther proof of this, it appears, that as Christian- 
ity began to spread amongst them, the rage of invasion began grad- 
ually to subside. What avails it that the acts of nations are the re- 
sult of some general principles, if the historian, whose duty it is, 
will not be at the trouble of exploring them.' 

This account of the origin of the Danish invasions is, in my opin- 
ion, less satisfactory than that which the doctor has rejected. The 
character of these public robbers forbid us to attribute their unpro- 
voked hostilities and wanton exercise of dominion, when obtained, 
to the impulse of a virtuous principle — namely, the defence of their 
country and their religion. The fact is, that these northern hoards 
laughed to scorn the control of moral and religious duties. They 
made war not pro aris etfocis, not to defend their own habitations, 
but to destroy and lay waste the habitations of others. The truth 
appears to be, that though the northern countries are not more pro- 
ductive of the human species than the southern, yet their inhabitants 
roust, in course of time, become too numerous to be supported by 
the spontaneous productions of a cold penurious soil ; and we know 



413 

from the history of these countries, that agriculture was entirely 
neglected among them. The western Scythians, who were the 
ancestors of the Swedes, Goths, Danes, and Norwegians, led a wan- 
dering life, fixing themselves now in one place, and now in another, 
still driving before them their flocks and herds ; but these flocks and 
herds could never become numerous, while supported only by the 
scanty pasture of the northern climes, and the inhabitants progres- 
sively increasing, though not in the same ratio with the southern re- 
gions, must have necessarily become straitened for means of subsist- 
ence. It is easy to perceive, that a people thus situated, and accus- 
tomed to a vagrant life, would still pursue the same course which 
they had followed from time immemorial ; and move on farther to 
the south, from which they could have no possible inducement to re- 
turn among the starved population which they had abandoned. 
They must, however, be soon visited by their forsaken kindred, who 
still increasing, not having means of subsistence at home, must have 
followed the example that was wisely set before them. This pro- 
gressive motion to the south must have continued while agriculture 
was neglected, and a wandering life rendered agreeable by habit. 
The delicacies of the south could not, however, be tasted without 
being coveted by a people always inured to rough and simple fare, 
and finding the inhabitants comparatively an eifeminate race of men, 
and less disposed to the turbulence and bustle of war, it is natural 
to conceive that these hardy Hyperboreans, already accustomed to 
a vagabond life, should rank with alacrity under the banners of their 
enterprising chiefs, when they chose to lead them to the spoils of 
richer but less enterprising nations. The trial once made, and the 
spoils once enjoyed, proved a sufiicient stimulus to renewed attempts. 
Accordingly we find that colonies from Gothland spread themselves 
over the islands of the Baltic sea, and that these again scattering by 
degrees, penetrated as far as the Cimbrica Chersonesus, or the pen- 
insula of the Cimbric. The local advantage of all these countries 
peculiarly fitted the inhabitants to lead a piratical life. Jutland, 
Sleswick, Holstein, &c. are in all parts intersected by arms of the 
sea, and, when we add to this, the great abundance of timber and 
materials for ship building, we need not be surprised if such a peo- 
ple should become enamoured of a naval life, especially when it 
promised them the treasured wealth of distant nations. Accordino-- 
ly, we find that piracy was deemed honorable among the Danes ; for 
this, we have the authority of Olaus Wormius, who says, Antiquitus 
apud Danos piratica honesta ac licita erat atque in ea se a^ebro regcs 
ipsi aut eorum liberi exercebant, ascitis famosissimis et fortissimis ath- 
letis.* Having shared whatever spoils they obtained with their 
kings and chiefs, no wonder that the latter should, as we find they 
did, lead them in person when any enterprize of importance was 
undertaken. We find that the corsairs of Barbary still practise this 
profession ; and so would the inhabitants of the north, if the politi- 
cal aspect of Europe had not undergone a complete revolution since 

* Piracy was deemed honorable, and licensed among the Danes, and even kings 
exercised themselves and their children in this profession, associating with them 
the most celebrated and hardiest warriors. 



414 

these disastrous times. This revolution, however, could not affect 
the corsairs of Barbary as it did the Goths and Danes. The effects 
resulting from the political revolutions of Europe can reach only to 
a certain extent, or if, like a burning meteor, they sometimes gleam 
with unexpected light in distant climes, yet like an artificial storm, 
they rage without danger, and are surveyed without terror. The 
standing armies and improved policy of the European powers having 
first checked the eff'ects, at length extinguished the spirit of piracy 
among the northern states ; but Barbary was too far removed from 
the influence of this policy, to be affected by the formidable barrier 
which it opposed to the northern pirates, and what required only a 
single effort to crush an enemy, immediately within reach, required 
many efforts to destroy one who wounded from afar. It is true the 
European powers could put an end to the profession of piracy among 
the corsairs of Barbary, if they once engaged in so sacred a cause, 
and it may with some reason be demanded why have they not 
done sol No doubt political considerations have partly prevented 
them from it, but certain it is that if they had never been guided by 
the short-sighted views of a niggard, of a reptile policy — a policy 
degrading to humanity, and hostile to the general interests of man- 
kind, yet they would have many difficulties to encounter which never 
presented themselves in subduing the piratical spirit among the peo- 
ple of the north. They should not only keep a standing army in 
Barbary, but civilize the rude and ferocious manners of the inhab- 
itants by sending European colonies to reside among them. 

The northern pirates were known to the southern states of Eu- 
rope by diflferent names. In France they were called Normans, or 
men of the North ; in England they were styled Ostmen, or men of 
the East, because the Livonians and other eastern tribes of northern 
Europe joined in their depredations; in Ireland they got the appel- 
lation of Loch-Lannachs, or powerful at sea, and were distinguished 
into the white and black. But though the name Loch-Lannachs 
was the most generic term by which they were known in Ireland, 
they had, however, various other appellations expressive of the dif- 
ferent countries from which they came. ' One tribe of them,' says 
O'Halloran, ' were called Leth-Manni, and these archbishop Usher 
and O'Coury,* judge were Livonians, whose province is called Let- 
ten, and by geographers Letta ; hence Leth-Manni, or the people 
of Letta. Others were called Fionne-Gail, and Dubh-Gail, or white 
and black strangers, from the colour of their hair. The first were, 
to all appearance, the Danes — Swedes and Norwegians, who are 
generally fair-haired, and the others, Germans. A territory near 
Dublin yet retains the name of Finn-Gall ; and Dunegall is proba- 
bly a corruption of Dubh-Gail, or the country of the black strangers. 
But the most general names they are distinguished by, amongst us, 
are Dubh-Loch-Lannice, and Fionn-Loch-Lannice ; the word Loch- 
Lannach signifies powerful at sea, and the adjectives, Dubh black, 
and Fionn white, were added to denote their different countries by 
their hair. We also sometimes find them called Danair-Fonh, and 

* Laws of Tanistry illustrated, p. 489. 



415 

Dan-Fir ; but I believe these were rather words of reproach than 
an impHcation of the country from whence they came, because they 
are rarely met with, and Irish writers were not fond of reproachful 
epithets to their enemies. They were called Dan-Fhir, I conjec- 
ture, from Dana, bold, impetuous, oppressive, and Fear, a man ; 
hence Dan, Fhir, or Dan-Airimh, oppressive men.' So much for 
the northern pirates, and the names by which they were known. 
We come now to notice their first visits to the Irish coasts. 

In 79S the White Loch-Lannachs made a descent in the west of 
Munster, and committed many depredations, plundering churches 
and monasteries, and putting the clergy to the sword. Munster was 
at this time governed by Art or Airtree, who collected what forces 
the exigency of the time would admit, and attacking the Danes, in a 
general engagement, obtained so complete a victory, that if the night 
had not favoured their retreat to their ships, it is supposed they 
would have all fallen victims to the deserved vengeance of the Mun- 
ster army. 

The year following the monarch levied a powerful army, with 
which he invaded Leinster, to enforce the payment of the justly de- 
tested and long exacted tribute of the barome. The archbishop of 
Armagh, and his suffragan bishops, were called upon to attend the 
royal forces, pursuant to a custom which seems to have then pre- 
vailed. There is no reason to suppose that this custom was first in- 
troduced under the sanction of the christian code, and therefore it is 
not unlikely, that it was a relict of the druidic policy, for we find 
that the druid priests attended the army, and were always very ac- 
tive in exciting and encouraging their deluded votaries. Of this we 
have an account in the capture of Mona by the Roman army, and 
we are particularly informed that it was the policy of St. Patrick, and 
a wise policy it was, to alter none of the established practices and 
customs, which obtained among the Druids, where no dogma of re- 
ligion was involved, or no principle of christian morality sacrificed. 
But from whomsoever this custom derived its origin, Corraac, who 
was then archbishop of Armagh, protested against the propriety and 
the decency of obliging the ministers of peace to be the witnesses of 
all the evils and horrors of war : he therefore besought the monarch 
to grant the clergy a dispensation from this unbecoming office, nor 
to impose upon them the necessity of performing, not a duty, but 
what was strictly a violation of the most sacred functions of ecclesi- 
astical decorum. Fothodius, surnamed de Canonibus, from his great 
knowledge of the canon law, was consulted by the monarch, and he 
drew up a statement of his opinion, entitled opusculum pro cleri de- 
fensione et immunitate, in which he vindicated the cause of the cler- 
gy, and the justice of the exemption which they demanded. His 
arguments prevailed, and a decree was made, absolving them from 
all future attendance on the royal forces.* 

The Danes, not intimidated by the ill success that attended their 
arms in their last attempt on the Munster coasts, resolved to make 
a second trial of their strength, and invaded Munster in 804, when 

* Act. Sanct. Hib. p. 581, 583. 



416 

Feidhlim was king of that province. They plundered and destroyed 
every thing that came in their way, but their vengeance was particu- 
larly directed against the clergy and the churches. Feidhlim col- 
lected all the troops that could be suddenly mustered, and attacking 
the Danes, gained a complete victory over them, forcing those who 
escaped the sword to take refuge in their ships.* 

The year following Ulster received a visit from these barbarians ; 
their impious arms were, as usual, chiefly directed against the cler- 
gy ; they stripped the famous abbey of Benchoirt of all its riches, 
put the abbot and 900 monks to the sword, and among other relics 
of piety carried off the shrine of St. Comhail, the founder of this 
celebrated institution. They had soon, however, to repent the tri- 
umph of their impiety : attacked by Muireadach, the Ulster king, 
they were defeated in battle, 1200 of their troops slain, and the rest 
driven to their wooden entrenchments, carrying with them, it is true, 
if not the glory of present triumph, at least the spoils of former vic- 
tories — victories which, though ingloriously obtained, proved a suf- 
ficient stimulus to induce their ragged kindred to join them in new 
enterprises against the peace and happiness of an unoffending 
people. 

The dangers that were justly to be apprehended from foreign ene- 
mies could not, however, restore unanimity to the counsels of the 
Irish princes. The ministers of Feidhlim, king of Munster, more 
studious of domestic broils than provident either of their own inter- 
ests or the general safety, advised their master, equally perhaps in- 
toxicated as themselves with the delirium of military fame that ca- 
cocthes bellandi, which proved the source of all their national mis- 
fortunes, to oblige Lachtna, king of North Munster, to pay him tri- 
bute. Ambassadors were despatched, accordingly, to make de- 
mands, which, though they might appear reasonable to that lust of 
power which aimed at more absolute dominion by an increased reve- 
nue, could not, however, be justified, either by prescriptive right, 
nor any tortured explication of the national laws. Precedents, it is 
true, were not wanting of the imposition of unjust tributes, exacted, 
however, in consequence of injuries received, or some other specious 

* Cogadh-Gal, ne Gaoidealhaibh. 

t Bangor is now a pretty and pleasing little town, situated on the sea coast, in 
the barony of Ardes, county of Down, about six miles from Donaghadee. The 
famous abbey which the Danes plundered in A. D. 793, was founded in the year 
555 by St. Congall. The biographer of this Saintsaysof him : — " he was a native 
of Ulster ; he built the great monastery of Bangor, near the eastern sea, and a vast 
multitude of monks came thither, insomuch, that one place could not contain 
them ; eo that he had to build many monasteries and cells, not only in the Ardes, 
but throughout all Ireland, in which were 3000 monks, men remarkable for the 
extent of their erudition, and the fervour of their piety, under the care and gov- 
ernment of the holy father St. Congall." The harbour of Bangor is deep and 
spacious, whence vast numbers of cattle are annually shipped for England. It 
is a fashionable bathing place, much frequented by the wealthy people of Belfast. 
The road running along the shore, from Bangor to Belfast, is fringed on both sides 
by beautiful and romantic scenery — by villas s-haded by groves, and by fields mar- 
gined by hedges of hawthorn and honey suckle. 

The domains of Lord Dufferin, and of Colonel Ward, entwine as it were, the 
town of Bangor in a garland of rural magnificence and sylvan grace. March, 
1836. 



417 

pretence of rights, but though every species of injustice is at vari- 
ance with truth and honesty, yet every species of injustice is not 
equally criminal and malignant — and he who acts unjustly when 
provoked — he who does not religiously examine the measure of pun- 
ishment, which a just sense of injuries would have pointed out, but 
inflicts vengeance with an unsparing and undiscriminating hand, is 
still not so criminal as he, who without provocation, or any assign- 
able cause, coolly and deliberately commits what has not even the 
sanction which the frailty of our own nature obliges us to allow to 
others, when acting under the influence of excited passions. Sensi- 
ble of the injustice of his demands, and anticipating a consequent 
refusal, Feidhlim levied a strong army, with which he followed his am- 
bassadors, but the Dalgais were neither to be intimidated nor 
wheedled into concession by the threats of Feidhlim, or the superiority 
of his numbers. They informed his ambassadors, that they were 
always a free people, that their possessions were Fearhaii forgahala 
na Cloidhimh, — ancient sword land, — and that they would not now 
relinquish a right which all the power of Connaught had never been 
able to wrest from their ancestors. 

The bishops of Limeric, Killaloe, and Inis-Catha endeavoured to 
soften a I'eply, better calculated to provoke the utmost vengeance of 
a lawless invader, than to move him to a consideration of the mani- 
fold evils that must unavoidably ensue from domestic broils, and the 
invasion of civil rights. Religion, which has been often made the 
instrument of many national calamities in the hands of the design- 
ing, has also proved a source of national blessings and national una- 
nimity in the heads of the good. To its salutary influence we must, 
in the present instance, attribute the reconciliation of the contend- 
ing parties — a reconciliation so rarely efl^ected in all former wars. 
The bishops, in treating with Feidhlim's ambassadors, not only 
availed themselves of those strong and cogent arguments in favour 
of peace, which religion so abundantly supplies, but had influence 
enough to persuade Lachtna, the son of Core, who then ruled in 
North Munster, to go in person and wait upon Feidhlim, who, flat- 
tered by this mark of respect, and convinced of the injustice of his 
proceedings, particularly against a family, who, though they claimed 
alternate succession to the crown of Munster, by the will of their 
common ancestor Olioll, had been forcibhy deprived of their right 
for many years, relinquished his claims, and satisfied with receiving 
homage from Lachtna, as king of Munster, entertained him splen- 
didly, and dismissed him with assurances of his sincere and lasting 
friendship. 

Feidhlim, who embraced a monastic life, was succeded by Olcu- 
bar, of the Eugenian line. The Danes, undismayed by former de- 
feats, disturbed his reign by a new invasion : they landed in Water- 
ford, A. D. 812, and committed, as usual, the most shocking bar- 
barities. They pillaged and afterwards burned the city and univer- 
sity of Lismore, carrying off whatever could gratify the appetites or 
excite the admiration of a barbarous crew. It has been said that 
barbarians are by nature enemies to learning, and this assertion 
would seem to require no further confirmation than the conduct of 
53 



418 

the Danes, if conclusions relative to the nature of man, and his 
aversions and propensities, could be dravi^n from the practice of an 
entire nation ; for the Danes manifested a determined hostility to 
learning and its votaries. So far from vs'ishing to convey to their 
own barbarous shores the treasures of ancient literature contained 
in the famous library of Lismore, they committed them all to the 
flames. This censure, however, is unfounded, if, by barbarians, we 
mean all uncivilized people — all people living in the state of nature; 
for it is certain, that if man, in the state of nature, was naturally an 
enemy to literature and the fine arts, they would never have flour- 
ished in any country, as all countries have been originally in this 
state. It appears to me that the character of savage or barbarous 
no more belongs to the state of uncultivated nature than it does to 
civilized society. If this were to be conceded, what becomes of the 
dignity of man, that lord of the universe, that deity of the third 
planet, who has rendered the universal tribe of inferior animals obe- 
dient to his will, and to the promotion of whose happiness all their 
appetites and instincts have been rendered subservient ? What be- 
comes of this presuming, this aspiring mortal, if he has been created 
a savage, stamped with all the characters of ferocious barbarity, an 
enemy to those arts which extend his knowledge, sublime his intel- 
lect, and open to his view the perfections and the attributes of the 
great author of his being. Has God destined this man, who is born 
and who dies a brute, to be the partner of his own kingdom, an in- 
mate of the celestial inhabitants who are never defiled by the stain 
of any thing impure. Surely we must grant it, if the savage state 
and the state of nature be the same — if God has not given to man in 
that state in which he originally placed him, all the means of ren- 
dering himself worthy that dignity for which he was created. Has 
God intended hira for Heaven, and yet given him a savage disposi- 
tion that renders him unfit for it, but which, however, he may never 
have an opportunity of softening or refining, if this can only be done 
by cultivation ^id science. He who could convince me of this, 
could also convince me that God never intended man for future hap- 
piness, inasmuch as he stamped him with a ferocious untractahle 
disposition, which was directly opposed to that course of life which 
alone could secure it — a disposition too, which he could never divest 
himself of while he remained in the state of nature. If, then, only 
culture and civilization can alter the original ferocity of man's na- 
ture, his hopes of a future happiness depend on a mere contingency 
— the chance of becoming a civilized being — but in this case there 
are more chances against him than for him : entire nations are still 
in the state of nature, among whom arts and civilization may not be 
introduced for some centuries to come ; and even among civilized 
nations, what numbers are there whose eternal toil for a mere ex- 
istence, preclude, and ever will preclude, the possibility of their at- 
taining to that polish and refinement which the poet says — 

Emollit mores, 
Nee sinit esse feros. 

To me, it appears that art and science do not always improve the 
work of God ; that an uncultivated peasant who never left his native 



419 

mountains, is, with few exceptions, more sincere in his professions, 
more ardent in his wishes to do good, more devoted in iiis friend- 
ships, more attached to his family and to his kindred, more tena- 
cious of his promises, and more observant of all his moral duties, 
though not so curious in ascertaining their nature and extent, than 
those who direct the judgment and guide the taste of civilized so- 
ciety — I mean of the literary tribe, whether philosophers, poets, 
politicians, or moralists Among whom do jealousies, enmities, 
pride, affectation, self-sufficiency, uncharitableness, and all the anti- 
social vices more prevail than among this class of society — and yet 
these are those who are farthest removed from that state which is 
called savage and barbarous. The progress of science is always 
dangerous to man, when it outstrips in its pace, the progress of re- 
ligion ; and happily for the state of nature, the savage, as he is 
called, can discern the light of religion, and the truths which it con- 
veys, as clearly as the acutest metaphysician, or the most philoso- 
phic moralist. 

But to return to the Danes, it would seem that so many defeats 
should have checked the courage and cooled the ardour of these 
invaders, more especially, if to the feelings occasioned by so many 
losses and disappointments were superadded the reflection that they 
fought not against man, but against heaven. They fought against 
truth, justice, and the law of nature, and their battles were as yet 
attended with that success which their cause deserved. It might 
therefore be expected that an opinion which seems to have prevailed 
from the remotest antiquity, and which appears to have more influ- 
ence with unlettered and superstitious nations than with polished 
states — that Heaven favours the just cause — should have deterred 
them from future attempts, after finding the truth of this opinion 
confirmed by sad experience. But if we must reprobate the injus- 
tice of their cause, we must admire their unshaken and determined 
resolution to effect their purpose. Three years after their last de- 
feat they landed off Ringshead, and plundered the monastery of 
Skelig-Mhichel. They committed many other depredations before 
they reached Loch-Lane, where they were attacked and defeated by 
the Irish, who recovered a considerable portion of their accumulated 
spoils. 

Soon after they appeared in the Shannon, and their troops made 
incursions on either side, where they committed, as usual, numerous 
atrocities before their progress was checked. They burned several 
churches, among which are numbered those of Scattery or Inis- 
Catha, particularly noted for the costly monuixient of St. Senanus, 
which they defaced. The Irish overtook them near Glin, where 
they were as usual routed and driven to their ships. ' Though it 
appears,' says Mr. O'Halloran, ' that wherever the Irish and these 
foreigners met, the latter were in general defeated, yet the country 
was destroyed before-hand by reason of their commanding the sea, 
and being at all times able to land where least expected. Though 
the ravages of these D-anes were alone as much afflictions as could 
be well borne, yet the very elements seemed to conspire to the ruin 
of this afflicted kingdom ; on the northern side of the Shannon, in 



420 

the month of March following, such violent and uncommon claps of 
thunder and lightning burst forth, that about a thousand people were 
destroyed by it ; at the same time the sea broke down the banks 
with great violence, and laid a considerable part of the country un- 
der water.' 

Such is the dismal aspect which these portentous times present — 
times pregnant with the seeds of those approaching calamities and 
disasters to which Ireland has been exposed from that ominous pe- 
riod, almost to the commencement of the present century, and which, 
perhaps, facilitated her subsequent conquest by the English crown. 

The monarch who seems to have remained an inactive spectator 
of these scenes, reigned 24 years. In so long a period he should 
have taken measures to secure his kingdom against the predatory 
incursions of a foreign enemy ; but, unhappily for the peace of Ire- 
land, such was the constitution of its government, that it separated 
the affection of the monarch from his people, and that of the people 
from their reputed sovereign. Out of the province of Meath, the 
monarch had only four subjects — the four provincial kings — for their 
subjects knew nothing of allegiance to the monarch. In all civil 
commotions they flew to the standards of their respective chiefs, and 
they would deem it treason to fight in behalf of the monarch, if their 
own prince had declared against him. Hence, the monarch had 
more difficulty in securing the obedience of the provincial kings, 
than he would in securing the affections, the loyalty, and the fidelity 
of the entire people. The train of evils that emanated from this 
grand political error in the constitution is far more numerous than 
might appear on a partial view of the subject, but of all these evils 
the most prominent and the most fatal to the repose of the state, 
were the want of patriotism, and the want of unanimity in the na- 
tional counsels. Of patriotism, in a confined sense, the Irish were 
not destitute : they were all devotedly attached to their respective 
provinces, septs, and chiefs, but they knew nothing of that expanded 
impulse, which, confining itself not to a point, would have taught 
thenj to love all their countrymen with the same undistinguishing 
attachment. Unhappily their attachments were confined to local 
districts and territories, which entirely arose from the genius of their 
constitution ; nor would it be difficult to make it appear that patriot- 
ism assumed the same form in every country where similar political 
obstacles were opposed to its expansion. The present monarch 
Aodh, regardless of the general welfare, and leaving each of the 
provincial kings to secure himself against the incursions of the Danes, 
as well as he could, thought only of securing that shadow of power 
with which he was invested, and fell accordingly in attempting to 
preserve it from insult in a battle with his own subjects, the Conna^ 
cians." 



CHAPTER LVIIL 

State of Learning and the Jirts in Ireland during the eighth and ninth centuries. 

We copy the following chapter, which displays much research 
and antiquarian information from Moore's History of Ireland. " la 
a preceding chapter of this volume there has been submitted to the 
reader most of the evidence, as well incidental as direct, suggested 
by various writers, in support of the belief, that the use of letters 
was known to the pagan Irish. But, perhaps, one of the most con- 
vincing proofs, that they were at least acquainted with this gift be- 
fore the time when St. Patrick introduced among them the Christian 
doctrine, is to be found in the immediate display of mind and talent 
which the impulse of that great event produced, — in the rapidity 
with which they at once started forth as scholars and missionaries, 
and became, as we have seen, the instructors of all Europe, at a time 
when, according to some, they were but rude learners themselves. 
It is, indeed, far easier to believe — what there is besides such strong 
evidence to prove — that the elements of learning were already known 
to them when St. Patrick and his brother missionaries arrived, than 
that the seeds then for the first time sown should have burst forth in 
so rich and sudden a harvest. 

To the question, — Where, then, are any of the writings of those 
pagan times 1 where the tablets, the manuscripts, even pretending 
to be of so ancient a date 1 — it can only be answered, that the argu- 
ment involved in this question would apply with equal force to the 
two or three centuries succeeding the time of St. Patrick, when, as 
all know, not merely letters, but the precious fruits of those ele- 
ments, literature and the sciences, had begun to spring up in Ire- 
land. And yet, of that long and comparatively shining period, 
when the schools of this country attracted the attention of all Eu- 
rope ; when the accomplished Cummian drew from thence his stores 
of erudition, and Columba's biographer acquired in them his Latin 
style ; when Columbanus carried to Gaul, from the celebrated school 
of Banchor, that knowledge of Greek and Hebrew which he after- 
wards displayed in his writings, and the acute Virgilius went forth, 
enriched with the various science which led him to anticipate the 
discovery of the sphericity of the earth; — of all that period, in Ire- 
land, abounding as it was in scholars and writers extraordinary for 
their time, not a single authentic manuscript now remains ; not a 
single written relic, such as ought to convince that class of sceptics 
who look to direct proofs alone, that the art of writing even existed 
in those days. The very same causes — the constant ravages of in- 
vasion and the blind fury of internal dissension — which occasioned 
the destruction and loss of manuscripts between the time of St. Pat- 
rick and the ninth or tenth century, account with still stronger force 
for the disappearance of all earlier vestiges of writing; and, in fact, 
the more recent and scanty at present are the remains of the ac- 
knowledged era of Irish literature, the more it weakens the argu- 



422 

ment drawn from the want of any such visible relics of the ages pre- 
ceding it.* 

We have seen that a manuscript copy of the Four Gospels, still 
extant, is said to have been written by the hand of St. Columbkill ; 
and to this copy Dr. O'Connor triumphantly refers, as affording an 
irrefragable answer to those who deny the existence of any Irish 
manuscript of an older date than the tenth century. But the zeal 
of this amiable scholar in the cause of his country's antiquities, and 
the facility with which, on most points connected with that theme, 
he adopts as proved what has only been boldly asserted, render even 
him, with all his real candour and learning, not always a trustworthy 
witness ; and the result of the researches on this point, in Ireland, 
of one whose experience in the study of manuscripts, combined 
with his general learning, render him an authority of no ordinary 
weight,! is, that the oldest Irish manuscript which has been discov- 
ered in that country, is the Psalter of Cashel, written in the latter 
end of the ninth century. 

For any remains, therefore, of our vernacular literature before 
that period, which have reached us, we are indebted to Tigernach,| 
and the annalists preceding him, through whom a few short pieces 
of ancient poetry have been transmitted ; and to those writers of 
the tenth century, who, luckily taking upon themselves the office of 
compilers, have made us acquainted with the contents of many cu- 
rious works which, though extant in their times, have since been 
lost. Among the fragments transmitted through the annalists are 
some distichs by the arch-poet Dubtach, one of St. Patrick's earliest 
converts, the antiquated idiom of which is accounted, by Irish schol- 
ars, to be in itself a sufficient proof of their authenticity. A few other 
fragments from poets of that period have been preserved by the 
same trustworthy chronicler ; and it appears on the whole highly 
probable, that while abroad, as we have seen, such adventurous 
Irishmen as Pelagius and Cselestius were entering into the lists with 
the great champions of orthodoxy, — while Sedulius was taking his 
place among the later Latin classics, — there were also, in Ireland 
itself, poets, or Fileas, employing their native language, and either 

* The absurd reasoning of the opponents of Irish antiquities on this point has 
been well exposed by the English writer just cited : — " The more recent they can 
by any means make this date, the greater, in their opinion, is the objection to the 
authenticity of Irish history, and to the pretensions of the national antiquarians to 
an early use of letters among their countrymen." He afterwards adds : — " If we 
possess so few Irish manuscripts, written before the twelfth century, it is plain 
that, by adducing this circumstance, they the more clearly ascertain the extent of 
those disturbances which destroyed every historical record prior to the tenth, and 
which must have been far more effectual in causing to perish every remains of the 
fifth age." — Jinalysis of the Jintiq. of Ireland. 

t Astle, Origin and Progress of Writing. 

X TiGERNACH, the famous abbot of Clonraacnois, and of Roscommon, possessed 
abilities of the highest literary order. His annals of Ireland from the earliest pe- 
riods down to the year of his death, 1088, furnish valuable materials for the Irish 
historian and antiquary. From his work, Bishop Lynch of Killala, made many 
translations. Of the learned Bishop Lynch we will speak at large, hereafter. Sir 
James Ware had, according to his own assertion, several of the manuscripts of 
Tigernach in his possession when he wrote his Account of Irish Writers. Boston, 
March, 1836. 



423 

then recently quickened into exertion by the growing intercourse of 
their country with the rest of Europe, or forming but links, perhaps, 
of a long bardic succession extending to remote times. 

According as we descend the stream of his Annals, the metrical 
fragments cited by Tigernach become more numerous ; and a poet 
of the seventh century, Cenfaelad, furnishes a number of these 
homely ornaments of his course. The singular fate of the monarch, 
Murcertach, who, in the year 534, was drowned in a hogshead of 
wine, seems to have formed a favourite theme with the poets, as no 
less than three short pieces of verse on this subject have been pre- 
served by the annalists, written respectively by the three poets, Cer- 
nach. Sin, and Cenfaeled. In these, as in all the other fragments 
assigned to that period, there Is to be found, as the learned editor of 
the Irish Chronicles informs us, a peculiar idiom and structure of 
verse, which denotes them to be of the early date to which they are 
assigned. It would appear, indeed, that the modern contrivance of 
rhyme, which is generally supposed to have had a far other source, 
may be traced to its origin in the ancient vans or I'ins, as they termed 
their stanzas, of the Irish. The able historian of the Anglo-Saxons, 
in referring to some Latin verses of Aldhelm, which he appears to 
consider as the earliest specimen of rhyme now extant, professes 
himself at a loss to discover whence that form of verse could have 
been derived.* But already, before the time of Aldhelm, the use of 
rhyme had been familiar among the Irish, as well in their vernacular 
verses as in those which they wrote in Latin. Not to dwell on such 
instances, in the latter language, as the Hymns of St. Columba, res- 
pecting whose authenticity there may be some question, an example 
of Latin verses interspersed with rhyme is to be found among the 
poems of St. Columbanus,t which preceded those of Aldhelm by 
near half a century. So far back, indeed, as the fifth century, an- 
other Irish poet, Sedulius, had, in some of the verses of his well- 
known hymn on the Life of Christ, left a specimen of much the 
same sort of rhyme. | As practised most generally, in their own 

* " Here, then," says Mr. Turner, " is an example of rhyme in an author who 
lived before the year 700, and he was an Anglo-Saxon. Whence did he derive 
it ? Not from the Arabs : they had not yet reached Europe." 
t Beginning, 

" Mundus iste transit et quotidie decrescit : 
Nemo vivens manebit, nullus vivus remansit." 
Though the rhymes, or coincident sounds, occur thus, in general, on the final 
syllable, there are instances throughout the poem of complete double rhymes. As^ 
for instance, 

" Dilexerunt tenebras tetras magis quam lucem ; 

Imitari contemnunt vitse Dominum Ducem, 

Velut in somnis regneht, una hora laetantur, 

Sed seterna tormenta adhuc illis parantur." 

t The following lines from this hymn will afford a specimen of the Irish method 

of rhyming: — 

" A solus ortus cardine, ad usque terra) limitejw, 
Christum canamus principem — natum Maria virgine." 
But it is still more correctly exemplified in a hymn in honour of St. Brigid, 
written, as some say, by Columbkill ; but, according to others, by St. Ultan, of 
Ardbraccan. See Usher, Eccles. Primord. 963. 

" Christum in nostra insula — quse vocatur Hibernia, 
Ostensus est hominibus — maximis mirabiliiMs, &c." 



424 

language, by the Irish, this method consisted in rhyming at every 
hemistich, or, in other words, making the syllable in the middle of 
the line rhyme to that of the end ; much in the manner of those 
verses called, in the twelfth century, Leonine, from the name of the 
writer who had best succeeded in them. According to this ' art of 
the Irish,'* as it was styled, most of the distichs preserved by Tiger- 
nach from the old poets were constructed ; and it is plain that Aid- 
helm, whose instructor, Maidulph, was a native of Ireland, must have 
derived his knowledge of this, as well as of all other literary accom- 
plishments of that day, from the lips of his learned master. How 
nearly bordering on jealousy was his own admiration of the schools 
of the Irish has been seen in the sarcastic letter addressed by him to 
Eaghfrid, who had just returned from a course of six years' study 
in that country, overflowing, as it would appear, with gratitude and 
praise. 

In its infant state, poetry has been seldom separated from music ; 
and it is probable that most of the stanzas cited by the annalists 
were meant originally to be associated with song. Of some of the 
juvenile works of St. Columbanus we are told, that they were 'wor- 
thy of being sung ;"t and a scene brought vividly, in a few words, 
before our eyes, by the Irish biographer of Columba, represents that 
holy man as sitting, along with his brethren, upon the banks of the 
beautiful lake Kee,| while among them was a poet skilled, we are 
told, in modulating song to verse, ' after the manner of his art.' 
That it was to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument, called 
the Cruit, they performed these songs or chants, appears to be the 
most general opinion. In some distichs on the death of Columba, 
preserved in the annals of the Four Masters, we find mention of this 
kind of harp§ in rather a touching passage : — ' Like a song of the 
cruit without joy, is the sound that follows our master to the tomb ;' 
and its common use in the eiglith century, as an accompaniment to 
the voice, may be implied from Bede's account of the religious poet 
Ceadmon, who, in order to avoid taking a part in the light songs of 
society, always rose, as he tells us, from table when the harp was 
sent round, and it came to his turn to sing and play. The Italians, 
who are known to have been in possession of the harp before the 

* From the following account of the metrical structure of Irish verse, it will be 
seen that it was peculiarly such as the people of strong musical feeling (and with 
whom the music was the chief object) would be likely to invent and practise : — 

" The rhythm consists in an equal distance of intervals, and similar termina- 
tions, each line being divisible into two, that it may be more easily accommodated 
to the voice and the music of the bards. It is not formed by the nice collocation 
of long and short syllables, but by a certain harmonic rhythm, adjusted to the 
voice of song by the position of words which touch the heart and assist the memo- 
cry." — Essay by Doctor Druynmond, Trans, of Royal Irish Acad. vol. xvi. 

t " Ad canendum digna," — so pronounced by his biographer Jonas. 

X In the county of Roscommon. 

§ Of this instrument, the harp, the Irish are said to have had four different spe- 
cies ; the clarseach, the keirnine, the cronar cruit, and the creamtheine cruit ; for 
all of which see Walker, Hist. Mem. oj Irish Bards, Beauford, ihid., Appendix, and 
Ledwich's Antiquities. What Montfaucon, however, says of the different names 
given to the lyre, among the ancients, may also, perhaps, be applicable here : — 
" Among this great diversity I cannot but think the same instrument must often be 
signified by different names." 



435 

time of Dante, are, by a learned musician of their own country, Ga- 
lilei, said to have derived it from Ireland ; the instrument, according 
to his account, being no other than a cithara with many strings, and 
having, at the time when he wrote, four octaves and a tone in com- 
pass. 

How little music, though so powerful in its influence on the feel- 
ings, either springs from, or is dependent upon, intellect, appears 
from the fact, that some of the most exquisite effusions of this art 
have had their origin among the simplest and most uncultivated peo- 
ple ; nor can all that taste and science bring afterwards to the task 
do more, in general, than diversify, by new comhinations, those first 
wild strains of gaiety or passion into which nature had infused her 
original inspiration. In Greece the sweetness of the ancient music 
had already heen lost, when all the other arts were but on their way 
to perfection ;* and from the account given by Giraldus Cambren- 
sis,t of the Irish harpers of the twelfth century, | it may be inferred 
that the melodies of the country, at the earlier period of which we 
are speaking, was in some degree like the first music of the infant 
age of Greece, and partook of the freshness of that morning of mind 
and hope which was then awakening around them. 

With respect to tlie structure of the ancient Irish harp, there does 
not appear to have been any thing accurately ascertained ; but, from 
that retentiveness of all belonging to the past which we have shown 
to have characterized this people, it appears most probable that their 
favourite instrument was kept sacredly unaltered : and remained the 
same perhaps in later times, when it charmed the ears of English 
poets and philosophers, § as when it had been modulated by the bard 
Cronan, in the sixth century, upon the banks of the lake Kee. 

* See Anacharsis, chap. 27, notes v. vii. " It is remarkable," says Wood, " that 
the old chaste Greek melody was lost in refinement before their other arts had 
acquired perfection." — Essay on Homer. 

t Topograph. Dist. 3. c. 11. This curious passage, which appears, thougli con- 
fusedly, even to imply that the Irish were acquainted with counterpoint, is pre- 
faced by a declaration that in their music alone does he find any thing to commend 
in that people : — " In musicis solum instrumentis commendabilem invenio gentis 
istas diligentiam." The passage in question is thus translated in Mr. Walker's 
Hist. Mem. of the Irish Bards : — " It is wonderful how, in such precipitate rapidi- 
ty of the finffers, the musical proportions are preserved ; and by their art, faultless 
throughout, in the midst of their complicated modulations, and most intricate ar- 
rangement of notes, by a rapidity so sweet, a regularity so irregular, a concord so 
discordant, the melody is rendered harmonious and perfect, whether the chords of 
the diatesseron or diapente are struck together ; yet they always begin in a soft 
mood, and end in the same, that all may be perfect in tiie sweetness of delicious 
sounds. They enter on, and again leave, their modulations with so much subtilty, 
and the tinglings of the small strings sport with so much freedom, under the deep 
notes of the bass," &c. &c. 

X " Even so late as the eleventh century," says Warton, " the practice continu- 
ed among the Welsh bards of receiving instructions in the Bardic profession from 
Ireland." — Hist, of English Poetry. 

§ Alluding to such tributes as the following , — 
" The Irish I admire 
And still cleave to that lyre, 

As our muse's mother ; 
And think, till I Expire, 

Apollo's such another." Drayton. 

" The liarp," says Bacon, " hath the concave not along the strings, but across 

54 



426 

It would appear that the church music, likewise, of the Irish, en- 
joyed no inconsiderable repute in the seventh century, as we find 
Gertrude, the daughter of the potent Maire du Palais, Pepin, send- 
ing to Ireland for persons qualified to instruct the nuns of the abbey 
of Nivelle in psalmody ; and the great monastery of Bangor, or 
Benchoir, near Carrickfergus, is supposed, by Ware, to have de- 
rived its name from the White Choir which belonged to it.* A cer- 
tain sect of antiquarians, whose favourite object is to prove that the 
Irish church was in no respect connected with Rome, have imagined 
some mode by which, through the medium of Asiatic missionaries, 
her Chant or Psalmody might have been derived to her directly from 
the Greeks. But their whole hypothesis is shown to be a train of 
mere gratuitous assumption ; and it is little doubted that, before 
the introduction of the Latin, or Gregorian Chant, by St. Malachy, 
which took place in the twelfth century, the style of music followed 
by the Irish, in their church service, was that which had been intro- 
duced by St. Patrick and his companions from Gaul.t 

The religious zeal which, at this period, covered the whole island 
with monasteries and churches, had not, in the materials at least 
of architecture, introduced any change or improvement. Stone 
structures were still unknown ; and the forest of oak which, from 
old heathen associations, had suggested the site of the church, fur- 
nished also the rude material of which it was constructed. In some 
few instances these wooden edifices were encircled by an inclosure 
of stone, called a casiol, like that which Bede describes as surround- 
ing a chapel erected on Holy Island by St. Cuthbert. The first 
churches, indeed, of Northumbria were all constructed of wood ; and 
that of St. Finan, the Irish bishop, at Lindisfarn, was, as we are told, 
built after 'the fashion of his country, not of stone, but of split oak, 
and covered with reeds.' 

When such was the rude simplicity of their ecclesiastical architec- 
ture, it may be concluded that their dwellings were still more home- 
ly and frail ; and in this, as in most of the other arts of life, their 
slow progress may be ascribed mainly to their civil institutions. 
Where possessions were all temporary, the natural motive to build 
durably was wanting. Instead of being brought together, too, in 
cities, where emulation and mutual interchange of mind would have 
been sure to lead to improvement, the separate clans of the Irish sat 
down, each in its hereditary canton, seldom meeting but in the field, 
as fellow-combatants, or as foes. In this respect, the religious zeal 
vi'hich now universally prevailed supplied, in some degree, the place 
of industry and commerce; and, among the many civilizing effects 

the strings ; and no harp hath the sound so melting and prolonged as the Irish 
harp." — Sylv. Sylvar. See also Selden's Notes on Drayton's Polyolbion. 

The following is from Evelyn's Journal : — " Came to see my old acquaintance, 
and (he most incomparable player on the Irish harp, Mr. Clarke, after his travels. 
.... Such music before or since did I never hear, that instrument being neglected 
for its extraordinary difficulty ; but in my judgment far superior to the lute itself, 
or whatever speaks with strings." 

* According to O'Halloran and Dk. O'Connor, the name Benn-Choir signifies 
Sweet Choir. 

I See, on this subject, Lanigan, chap. xxvi. note 46. 



4S7 

of the monastic institutions, it was not the least useful that, wherever 
established, they were the ntieans of attracting multitudes around 
them, and, by examples of charity and self-denial, inspiring them 
with better motives than those of clanship for mutual dependence 
and concert. The community collected, by degrees, around the 
Oak of St. Brigid, at Rildare, grew at length into a large and flour- 
ishing town ; and even the solitary cell of St. Kevin, among the 
mountains, drew around it, by degrees, such a multitude of dwell- 
ings as, in the course of time, to form a holy city in the wilderness. 

With regard to our evidence of the state of agriculture, at this 
period, the language employed, on such subjects, in the Lives 
of the Saints, our only sources of information, is too vague and gen- 
eral to afford any certain knowledge. The tending of sheep was, 
as we have seen, the task assigned to St. Patrick during his servi- 
tude ; and it is, indeed, most probable that pasturage was then, as 
it continued for many centuries after, the chief employment of the 
people.* The memorable 'Earn,' however, of the apostle's friend 
Dicho, implies obviously the practice of hoarding grain ; and from 
an account given, in the annals for the year 650, of a murder which 
took place in 'the bakehouse of a mill,' it would appear that water- 
millsf had already been brought into use at that time.| There is, 
indeed, mention made, in one of the Brehon Laws,§ though of what 
period seems uncertain, both of carpenters and millwrights. 

Another of these Irish Laws, said to be of great antiquity, shows 
that the practice of irrigating lands must have been in use when it 
was enacted : as it thus regulates the common right in the water: — 
• According to the Fenechas, the common right of drawn water be- 
longs to the land from which it is drawn. It is therefore that all re- 
quire that it shall run freely the first day over the entire land. For 
right in the water belongs to none but in the land from which it is 
drawn. '11 

The biographer of St. Columba, besides employing the terms 
ploughing and sowing, mentions as the result, on one occasion, of the 
abbot's prayers and intercessions, that they had an abundant har- 
vest. The discipline of the monks, enjoining herbs and pulse, as 
their chief food, would lead to the culture of such productions in 
their gardens. The mention of honey-comb, too, as part of the 

* It was for this reason that they appeared to Giraldus as not yet in his time 
emerged from the pastoral life : — " Gens agricnlturae labores aspernans, a primo 
pastoralis vitas vivendi modo non recedens." That Spenser held it to be no less a 
cause than a sign of the want of civilization, appears from the following strong 
sentences : — " To say truth, though Ireland be by nature accounted a great soil of 
pasture, yet had 1 rather have fewer cows kept, and men better mannered, than to 
have such huge increase of cattle, and no increase of good conditions. I would, 
therefore, wish that there were some ordinances made amongst them, that whom- 
soever keepeth twenty kine should keep a plough going; for, otherwise, all men 
would fall to pasturage, and none to husbandry." — Viae of the State of Ireland. 

t Annal. iv. Mag. ad. ann. 647. — See Dr. O'Connor's note on the passage. 

t The introduction of water-mills into the British Isles is attributed by Whitaker, 
to the Romans ; and from hence, he says, this sort of mill is called Melin in the 
British, and Muilan or Muiland in the Irish. 

§ Collectan. Hibern. No. 1. 

II O'Reilly on the Brehon Laws, Trans. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xiv. 



423 

monastic diet, concurs, with some curious early laws on the subject,* 
to prove their careful attention to the rearing of bees ; and not only 
apple-trees, but even vines, are said to have been cultivated by the 
inmates of the monasteries. 

Of the skill of the workers in various metals at this period, as well 
as of the lapidaries and painters, we are told wonders by the hagi- 
ologists, who expatiate at length on the staff of St. Patrick, covered 
with gold and precious stones, the tomb of St. Brigid at Kildare, 
surmounted by crowns of gold and silver, and the walls of the church 
at the same place, adorned with holy paintings. But it is plain that 
all this luxury of religious ornament, as well as those richly illumi- 
nated manuscripts wliich Dr. O'Connor and others have described, 
must all be referred to a somewhat later period. 

Of the use of war-chariots among the Irish,! in the same manner 
as among tiie Britons and the Greeks, some notice has already been 
taken ; and this sort of vehicle was employed also by the ancient 
Irish for the ordinary purposes of travelling. The self-devotion of 
St. Patrick's charioteer has made him memorable in our history ; 
and both St. Brigid and Columba performed their progresses, we are 
told, in the same sort of carriage. There is also a canon of the 
synod attributed to St. Patrick, which forbids a monk to travel from 
one town to another, in the same chariot with a female. 

Reference has been made, in the course of this chapter, to the 
early Brehon Laws, and could we have any dependence on the date 
assigned to such of these laws as have been published, or even on 
the correctness of the translations given of them, they would unques- 
tionably be very important documents. Of those published by Val- 
lancey it has been pronounced, by a writer not over-credulous, | that 
they bear strong internal marks of antiquity ; and while the com- 
ment on the several laws is evidently, we are told, the work of some 
Christian juris-consults, the laws themselves wear every appearance 
of being of ancient, if not of Pagan times. No mention occurs in 
them of foreigners, or of foreign septs, in Ireland. The regulations 
they contain for the barter of goods, and for the payment of fines by 
cattle and other commodities, mark a period when coin had not yet 
come into general use ; while the more modern date of the Com- 
ment, it is said, is manifested by its substituting, for such primitive 
modes of payment, gold and silver taken by weight. Mention is 
made in them, also, of the Taltine Games and the Convocation of 
the States ; and it is forbidden, under the pain of an Eric, to im- 
prison any person for debt during these meetings. 

* " Whoever plunders or steals bees from out a garden or fort is subject to a like 
penalty as if he steal them out of a habitation, for these are ordained of equal pen- 
alty by law." Again, " Bees in an inclosure, or fort, and in a garden, are of the 
same account (as to property, penalty, &c.) as the wealth, or substance of a habi- 
tation." Extracted from inedited Brehon Laws, in an Essay on the Rise and Pro- 
gress of Gardening in Ireland, by J. C. Walker. See Antholog. Hibern. vol. i., 
and Trans. Royal Acad. vol. iv. 

t The king of the Irish Crutheni, or Picts, is described by Adamnan as escaping 
from the field of battle in a chariot : — " Quemadmodum victus currui insidens 
evaserit." 

t Leland, Hist, of Ireland, Preliminary Discourse. 



429 

With the single exception, perhaps, of the absence of any allusion 
to foreigners, there is not one of these alleged marks of antiquity 
tliat would not suit equally well with the state and condition of Ire- 
land down to a period later, by many centuries, than that at which 
we are arrived ; the payment by cattle and the law of the Eric hav- 
ing been retained, as we shall find, to a comparatively recent date. 

With I'espect to the manner in which the Irish laws were deliv- 
ered down, whether in writing or by tradition, there has been much 
difference of opinion ; and the poet Spenser, in general well informed 
on Irish subjects, declares the Brehon law to be ' a rule of right un- 
written.' Sir John Davies, too, asserts that ' its rules were learned 
rather by tradition than by reading.' This is evidently, however, an 
erroneous representation. Without referring to the Collections of 
Judgments, or Codes of Laws, which are said to have been compiled 
under some of the heathen princes, we find, after the introduction 
of Christianity, the Great Code, or Seanchas-More, as it was called, 
drawn up with the aid, according to some writers, of St. Patrick, 
but supposed by others to have been of a much later date. 

In the seventh century, a body of the laws of the country was 
compiled and digested, we are told, from the scattered writings of 
former lawyers, by three learned brothers, the sons of O'Burechan, of 
whom one was a judge, the second a bishop, and the third a poet.* 
The great number, indeed, of Irish manuscripts still extant, on the 
subject of the Brehon Laws, sufficiently refutes the assertion of -Spen- 
ser and others, that these laws were delivered down by tradition 
alone. In the very instance, mentioned by Sir John Davies, of the 
aged Brehon whom he met with in Fermanagh, the information 
given reluctantly by this old man, respecting a point of local law, 
was gained by reference to an ancient parchment roll, ' written in 
fair Irish character,' which the Brehon carried about with him al- 
ways in his bosom. t The truth appears to be, that both tradition 
and writing were employed concurrently in preserving these laws ; 
the practice of oral delivery being still retained after the art of writ- 
ing them down was known ; and a custom which tended much to 
perpetuate this mode of tradition, was the duty imposed upon every 
Filea or Royal Poet, to learn by heart the Brehon Law, in order to 
be able to assist the memory of the judge. | 

On the whole, whatever may be thought of the claims to a high 
antiquity of the numerous remains of the Brehon Law that have 
come down to us, of the immemorial practice of this form of juris- 
prudence among the ancient Irish, and of the fond, obstinate rever- 
ence with which, long after they had passed under the English yoke, 
they still continued to cling to it, there exists not the slightest doubt. 

* Ware's Writers, chap. iv. 

t Letter to the Earl of Salisbury, Collectan. vol. i. 

t " In order to qualify the File," says Mr. O'Reilly, " for this important office, 
the rules for the education of the poetic professors required that every Dos, or poet 
of the third degree, before he was qualified to become a Cana, or poet of the fourth 
degree, should repeat, in the presence of the king and the nobles, the Breithe 
Neimhidh, i. e. the Law of the Degrees or Ranks, and fifty poems of his own com- 
position." — Essay on the Brehon Laws. 



430 

In the fifth century, the Brehons were found by St. Patrick dispens- 
ing their then ancient laws upon the hills : and, more than a thous- 
and years after, the law-officers of Britain found in the still revered 
Brehon the most formidable obstacle to their plans." 



CHAPTER LIX. 

Accession of Connor to the Throne. — Ravages of the Danes. — Reign of JVial III. — 
Invasion of Turgesius. — Devastations and Calamities experienced by Munster and 
Leinster. — The Danes endeavour to subjvgate all Ireland to their dominion. — The 
death of JVial, and the accession of Malachy I. — Meeting of the JVational Estates. 
Continued success of the Danes. 

To Hugh, the last monarch, succeeded prince Connor, son to king 
Donachad, on the throne of Ireland. Immediately after his coro- 
nation he raised an army to oppose the Danes, who had, at this era, 
carried their incursions and devastations over the principal parts of 
Leinster and Connaught. At Tailtean, in Meath, a battle was fought, 
in which the king was victorious. After this defeat, the Danes re- 
treated to the neighbourhood of Wexford, where prince Lorcan, son 
of Ceallach, king of Leinster, attacked them, A. D. 824, at a place 
called Drum-Conla, — but the Danes obtained there a dear-bought 
victory. In the year 826, another body of these barbarians landed 
near the present city of Cork, which they captured, and after plun- 
dering the church of St. Finbar, they set the whole town on fire. 

"A greater number of Danes," says McDermott, " landed near 
Newry,* in 830, and plundered the churches and university of Ar- 
magh of an immense quantity of plate and riches. They polluted, 
once more, with sacrilegious hands, the monastery of Benchoir, and 
committed dreadful ravages in Connaught. Connor, unable to re- 

* Newry, situated partly in the counties of Down and Armagh, on the banks 
of a river called the JVewrywater , at the distance of sixty-three English miles from 
Dublin, is a large and populous town, eminent for its commerce and wealth. Its 
contiguity to the sea at Warrenpoint, and its communication, on the opposite side, 
by canal, with the spacious bay of Carlingford, only six miles distant, have ren- 
dered it the great commercial emporium of the southern counties of Ulster. The 
population of Newry, according to a census taken in 1833, amounted to 14,353 
souls. It is irregularly built, but some of its public and private edifices display 
architectural taste and magnificence of a high order. The Protestant church, 
erected in the year 1819, is an excellent specimen of Gothic architecture. There 
are three Roman Catholic chapels in Newry ; one is situated in Bow St., one in 
Chapel St., and one recently erected, which a late Tourist describes thus : — " The 
Catholic church, which stands on the low ground, is constructed of hewn granite, 
in the pointed or Gothic style, and consists of a nave and side aisles, the western 
end constituting the principal front. This facade may be described as having a 
centre, and two wings, apparently divided by two handsome octagonal turrets, 
which are carried to a considerable height, the upper stages terminating in open 
lanterns of perforated panel work and battlements. The length of the edifice, 
taken over the walls, is upwards of 120 feet, by 74 in breadth. ' Of Newry we 
will have occasion to speak more largely, in a future note. 23d March, 1836. 



431 

pel attacks, so suddenly made, and so remotely felt, is said to have 
died with grief. 

Nial III., his successor, was crowned A. D. 836 ; he was son to 
Aodh VI., and had to contend with Turgesius, the most formida'ole 
of all the Danish commanders. O'Halloran places his arrival in 
836, but other writers 20 years earlier. He approached Ireland 
with a formidable fleet of 120 ships, 50 of which he sent northward 
to Drogheda, and with the remainder he landed in Dublin. The 
glad tidings of this powerful and able commander soon reached the 
vagabond Danes who ranged the country in all directions ; and 
though composed of different nations, they all immediately flocked 
to his standard; certain, if not of totally subduing the country, at 
least of carrying off" an immense booty to their respective homes. 

The state of Munster at this time, and the proceedings of Turge- 
sius, are thus described by Dr. O'Halloran : — 

'Already had Munster suffered unheard of afflictions : the North- 
ern and Southern Momonians, or the Eogonachts and Dalgais, had 
not been well united ; these last, constantly in arms to defend their 
frontiers from the Connacians, could not enforce their right of alter- 
nate succession to the crown of Munster ; and were in a manner 
excluded by the Eogonachts ; and the writer of the actions of Ceal- 
lach Caisil, now before me, complains, that in ail the miseries 
of these days, the monarchs never afforded them the smallest suc- 
cour. Thus divided amongst themselves, and unsupported by the 
other provinces, the Danes, wherever they landed, had nothing to 
fear but from the military and people of that quarter only. Their 
fleet, a second time, sailed up the Shannon, and destroyed a most 
spacious monastery near Carrig-a-Foile, the remains of which, at 
this day, proclaim, in part, its former extent and grandeur ; all the 
other religious houses, on both sides the river, suffered the same 
fate. They landed a considerable body of troops near Limerick, 
surprised and set on fire the ancient city of Descain-Assain, and 
with it the noble college of Muingharid, with the monastery and 
other religious houses, having first plundered them of t-heir richest 
effects. Soon after this they possessed themselves of Limerick. We 
are not told how, nor the exact time, but the Ulster annals under 
the year 843 mention St. Ferranan's being taken prisoner at Cluan- 
Chomharda, and with his family and the ornaments and relics of his 
churches, conveyed by water to their fleet at Limerick. From this 
we must suppose them in possession of it before that period. And 
here let me, for once, observe, en passant, the manifest absurdities 
of foreign writers asserting that Limerick, Cork, Waterford, and 
most of our sea-port towns were built by these merciless barbarians. 
Limerick was so noted for its commerce from the earliest ages, that 
it was Jiever mentioned by our earliest writers without the epithet 
long annexed to it. When Ceallach Caisil attacked and expelled 
the Danes from thence, we then find him call it Liumneach na 
Luingas, or Limerick of the ships or fleets. '^ 

The Momonians must have received some considerable checks in 
this last invasion, because I find it mentioned, that after Ailghenan, 
king of Caisil's decease (and he ruled Munster but seven years). 



432 

Maolgula, who was his successor, was killed in battle by the Loch- 
Lannachs. 

Turgesius, as we see, having now the command of these aliens, 
wherever dispersed through the kingdom, with great wisdom availed 
himself of this power, and his different detached parties were every- 
where in action, while he possessed himself of Drogheda, and an- 
other part of Dublin ; and now was the whole country one scene of 
ruin and desolation — churches and monasteries, rehgious and laics, 
nobles and peasants, without discrimination, suffered the utmost 
cruelty of sword and fire. Maigh-Breagh and Maigh-Liffe, which 
before this exhibited such scenes of opulence, splendour, hospitality, 
and piety, became now destitute of inhabitanls, cities, or houses ; 
and the country, instead of being covered with flocks and corn, was 
replete with barbarians, who were a dishonour to humanity. In this 
general conflagration and carnage, churches of the greatest fame 
were particular objects to satiate the vengeance and rapacity of tiiese 
infidels. They plundered and burned the noble abbey and churches 
of Rildare, taking with them the rich shrines of St. Bridgid and St. 
Conlath. The city of Fearna-Maida, or Ferns, then the capital of 
Leinster, they laid in ashes, having first plundered the archiepisco- 
pal church of St. Maida of all its riches. They erected forts and 
castles in these now desolate places ; so that whoever ventured to 
return to their old habitations, must do it on terms of submission to 
them. In vain did the Irish oppose them manfully every where, and 
wherever they engaged them, in general defeated them. Our an- 
nals are minute enough in their accounts of these different encoun- 
ters (for battles they could not be called), and note in what place 
three, in another five, and six hundred of these people were cut off. 
It is evident by their numbers, and the power they in fact acquired, 
that, upon the whole, the Danes were successful. This was not 
enough, the interior parts of the country had been hitherto freed 
from their incursions, and poured forth new men to defend those 
parts nearest them. Turgesius, in imitation of the Irish, having 
penetrated far into the country, caused light barks to be built, and 
the interior and other parts of the Shannon and other rivers and 
lakes, were soon filled with enemies, who, by sudden landings, laid 
the country everywhere waste. The prospect of a complete reduc- 
tion of the country animated these people to make new efforts. 
Turgesius sent to his friends for a fresh reinforcement of troops. 
Early in 839 a fleet of Danish ships appeared on the coast of Ulster, 
and landed a large body of troops near Dundalk, and after laying 
waste the country, took Armagh, sword in hand, and set fire to all 
its sumptuous churches, colleges, and public edifices. As had been 
already done in the south, they built vessels, and Loch Neach and 
Loch Erne were covered with small craft, from which they sudden- 
ly landed, spreading ruin and desolation over all the adjacent coun- 
try, and particularly destroying churches and monasteries. 

Such is the melancholy picture given to us of these dismal times. 
The historian by whom it is drawn, obliged to avow the ultimate 
success of the Danes, but anxious to preserve the military character 
of his country, says, 'the Irish opposed them manfully every where, 



433 

and wherever they engaged them, in general defeated them ;' but 
common sense revolts at the idea of a people generally defeated, and 
yet finally triumphant. The truth appears to be, that in all the 
lesser rencounters that took place between the Danes and Irish, the 
latter were generally, if not always defeated. The former were al- 
ways the aggressors, and acted on the offensive, the latter, who were 
almost always attacked unawares, acted on the defensive, and being 
unprepared for contest, had little chance with an enemy, who, while 
they remained in the island, made war their trade, and pillage the 
object of their ill-directed ambition. Whenever the political feuds 
of the Irish princes suffered them to unite against the common ene- 
ixjy — whenever a vigorous effort was made to bring the Irish to a 
general engagement, the Danes seldom escaped with impunity, and 
were generally defeated. But the victory was scarcely obtained, 
when the evil genius of Ireland set them again by the ears, and gave 
the enemy an opportunity of recruiting their forces." 

In the year 840, Turgesius, son of the King of Denmark, entered 
the river Boyne, near Drogheda,* with fifty ships, and effected a 
landing without opposition. No sooner had this daring and despotic 
chief captured Drogheda, than he marched to the city of Dublin, 
which he speedily caused to surrender. After placing a garrison in 
Dublin, he made an incursion into Ulster, where he burned and 
plundered several churches and abbeys. At Arnmgh, St. Ferranan, 
the Archbishop, at the head of all the forces he could collect, bravely 
opposed Turgesius ; but in vain, for the Primate was taken a 
prisoner by the tyrant. The booty which the Danes carried from 
the Cathedral of Armagh, was immense. All the foreigners through- 
out Ireland now acknowledged Turgesius as their chief, under whose 
potent command they promised to themselves the subjugation of the 
entire Island, and a rich harvest of plunder. The monarch Nial 
made, at that juncture, a journey into Ulster, in the hope of being 
able to raise forces to expel the invaders from his kingdom. He 
defeated the Danes in two battles, but he was unfortunately drowned 
in the river Callen, in the county of Armagh, while making the 
generous attempt of saving the life of his equery, who had fallen 
into tlie flood. 

" If," writes Dr. Warner, "this monarch gave no proof in his 
life of his zeal and activity to serve his country, he left a signal 
instance of humanity at his death ; and this makes it probable that 
it was not so much his fault as the fault of the times ; and owing to 
some untoward conjunctures, that he did not exert himself sooner 
against the common enemy." 

The conclusion of this chapter is from McDermott's history of 
Ireland. 

"The death of Nial would have been succeeded by the pomp and 

* The river Boyne rises from a mountain near Clanbullage, in the King's 
county, and in its progress to the sea, into which it falls in the vicinity of Drog- 
heda, it passes through the counties of Kildare, East and West Meath. This fine 
river is navigable for large ships to the harbour of Drogheda. At Navan, in the 
county of Meath, the river Blackwater, which derives its source from the county 
of Cavan. mingles its tributary streams with the Bovne. 

.5.5 



434 

ceremony of an election, if the distresses of the nation had permitted. 
But from the absence of this ceremony, the chronicles of the time 
do not mention who succeeded to the throne. Malachy, nephew to 
the monarch Connor, and son of Maolruana, is, however, placed 
next in the regal list, but though it is likely that he was the only 
sovereign acknowledged by the Irish, yet his title was merely 
nominal. Some there are who assert that Turgesius immediately 
usurped the crown, being proclaimed king by his countrymen, to 
whom the Irish submitted, but be this as it may, certain it is, that if 
unlimited power can confer royalty, Turgesius was monarch, even 
though the pomp of a coronation had been never thought of. The 
Irish, however, recognized his title no farther than necessity com- 
pelled them ; and Malachy was the sovereign of their hearts. In 
the regal list he is entitled Flaith na Feine go Fior Buadh — prince 
of the truly victorious legion. He summoned the estates of Con- 
naught, Meath, and Ulster, to meet him at Armagh, which had been 
lately recovered from the Danes, to deliberate on the most effectual 
means of expelling the common enemy out of the country, and 
redeeming the disgraced military character. What the resolutions 
were that passed in this assembly we are not informed, and can 
only guess at them from the subsequent events which followed. 
Several victories were obtained over the Danes in different parts of 
the island, but they were victories of partial import, when compared 
to the great losses which they sustained. Malachy defeated them 
in Meath, and left 700 of them slain on the field of battle. They 
were also defeated at Ardbraccan,*^ by the Dalgais, and at Easruadh 
by the inhabitants of Tirconnell. They were equally unsuccessful 
in some other engagements ; but these losses were too inconsiderable 
to make any impression on the operations of the Danes. In the 
battle of Gias-GIean, however, they met with an unexpected check : 
1700 of their men, with Saxolb, one of their most distinguished 
generals, were slain on the field of battle, and their entire army 
routed by Malachy in conjunction with the Lagenians. The Danes, 
however, fertile in resources, and continually increased by auxiliary 
troops from Britain and France, countries in which their arms were 
marked with the same success that attended them in Ireland, were 
scarcely sensible of those partial losses, and Turgesius soon became 
so absolute in Ireland, that he reduced the people to the most cruel 
bondage, which the genius of invention and cruelty could devise. 

I know not how to give the reader a clearer view of the state of 
Ireland, under the administration of Turgesius, than by presenting 
to him an outline of the bondage, and the particulars of the cruelties 
and privations to which the Irish were subjected by these inexorable 
barbarians, as it is accurately and minutely described by Dr. 
"Warner : 

' They (the Irish) were forced by droves,' says he, ' like sheep 

*" Ardbraccan, where stands the elegant palace of the Bishop of Meath, is 
about two miles distant from the opulent town of Navan, in a westerly direction, — 
and twenty-nine miles N. W. from Dublin. It derives its name from St. Braccan, 
who founded an abbey in that place, A. D. 650. The Protestant church of Ard- 
braccan, which was built in 1766, is more massy than magnificent. The interior 
is, however, elaborately decorated with episcopal emblems and attributes. 



435 

into captivity, and such as escaped, were obliged to retire into the 
woods and wildernesses with their families, and lie exposed to the 
miseries of want and nakedness, in order to preserve themselves 
from slavery. The sea coasts were ravaged in the same manner 
by sending different parties round the island in their boats ; and no 
words can paint out the various species of misery which the poor 
inhabitants underwent. The cruelties of fire and sword, of rape 
and plunder, of violence and captivity, were all united under the 
usurpation of Turgesius. A government established in this manner 
must necessarily overturn the laws and religion as well as the rights 
and liberties of the nation ; the only rule of administration being the 
usurper's will, and that usurper being a pagan and a tyrant. This 
was, in fact, the case at that time in Ireland. Tlie churches and 
monasteries were desolated and consumed ; the laws were a dead 
letter; and all religion and learning were suppressed or banished 
the island. 

The more warlike the spirit of the Irish was, the more enthusiastic 
their attachment to the Milesian line of kings, and the more jealous 
they were of their liberties, the more their necks must be galled 
with the oppressive yoke of this usurper. But even all this could 
not bring them to a spirit of union among themselves ; and faction 
which is always the disease of liberty, proved mortal now, and occa- 
sioned its death. Particular princes, it is true, spirited up their 
tribes, and fought many times with great success against the 
oppressors — but these engagements were not the fruit of united 
counsel, in concert with each other, and were therefore more 
properly skirmishes and rencounters than general actions in defence 
of the common cause, and for the extirpation of their enemies, and 
the event was answerable ; for notwithstanding these victorious 
battles over the Danes, the usurper still possessed the government, 
and the fate of the country remained undecided. The loss of these 
troops, continually supplied with fresh recruits from Norway, which 
were poured upon them in great numbers ; whilst the natives were 
diminishing, even with their successes. The Irish being at length 
dispirited and worn out, were obliged to yield themselves vanquished, 
and to submit to the tyranny of their Danish masters, who ruled 
them indeed with a rod of iron, and made them taste of the very 
dregs of servitude. 

Turgesius having brought the whole island into subjection, he 
made^it his next business to new model the state, in order to secure 
himself in the government which he had obtained by force. Thus 
into every barony he put a Danish king where before there had 
been an Irish one. For what we call lords of the manor in our 
days, they called kings. Into every district or parish was placed a 
captain of war ; every ville had a sergeant, and every house a sol- 
dier. The bishops and clergy were, for the most part, retreated 
into bogs and wildernesses, into woods or subterraneous caves, where 
they preserved their historical monuments, and where they hid and 
lurked about like wild beasts ; their country was no longer the 
island of saints, nor the mart of literature to the rest of Europe. 
The men of learning had taken themselves away to seek repose in 



436 

other countries, as we may learn from a letter to the emperor 
Charles the Bald, who gave them a kind reception. 

When the city of Armagh was sacked, all the clergy, the religious 
and the students of that university, were made prisoners by Tur- 
gesius, and shipped off for Limerick, then in the hands of the Danes, 
and what was their fate afterwards was not known. In every church 
or monastery that was not reduced to ashes, and near the ruins of 
those that were, a lay Danish abbot had his residence in order to 
collect the revenues with which they were endowed. All the books 
that could be met with they burned or tore to pieces — the schools or 
seminaries of learning were shut up or destroyed ; and the inhabi- 
tants were not permitted to teach their children to read. Every 
bride was obliged to be the first night after her marriage with the 
Danish captain of the territory in which she lived- — but if she was 
not to his taste, he had a certain tax in money in lieu of her virginity. 

These are only the outlines of that cruel bondage which the Irish 
were held in by their lords the Danes. The particulars are still 
more shocking and insupportable. It has been already taken notice 
of that a soldier was quartered in every house and cottage through- 
out the kingdom, but the reader has no idea of the miseries entailed 
upon every family by that regulation. Here he was not only a spy 
upon every action, every word, and every look, but the soldier was 
also the absolute master of the house, and of every person in it. Not 
a chicken could be killed, not an egg, nor a little milk used for any 
one till he was first satisfied, and his leave obtained ; and if he had 
a mind to lie with the wife or daughter, he must not be denied, lest 
his resentment should dispossess them of all they had. Neither the 
cries of the infant, nor the want of the diseased which required milk 
were in the least regarded by this brute ; and he would often times 
devour it wantonly to create the greater distress and to enhance his 
inhumanity. Many of the Irish at first refused to comply with these 
oppressions ; but then the soldiers of the neighbouring houses joining 
together, they were dragged by violence to the guard, which they 
kept in every county, and there imprisoned and cruelly used till they 
had made satisfaction to their guests, whom they had offended by 
their disobedience. 

None of the gentry or nobility were allowed to wear any clothes 
but what the Danes had first worn out and lain aside : the young 
ladies were not permitted to work at all with the needle ; and the 
sons of the Irish chiefs were prohibited the use of arms, or to 
exercise themselves in feats of antiquity, or in martial sports, lest 
they should be qualified and tempted to shake oif the yoke of slavery, 
now about their necks. Every master of a family throughout the 
island was obliged to pay an annual tribute to the government 
of an ounce of gold, and if he was remiss in the payment, whether, 
through utter inability or not, he was punished with the loss of his 
nose, which occasioned it to be called by the name of the nose tax. 
In short, all the natives of every rank were prohibited, under the 
penalty of the severest fines and imprisonment, to make any public 
entertainments, or to use hospitality among each other, in order to 
prevent any caballing or contriving against the government, for the 
restoration of their liberties. 



437 

Such and so dreadful was the bondage in which the Irish were 
held by these barbarians, but yet nothing could bring them to a union 
among themselves. This is a conduct so utterly incapable of any 
excuse, that if one might interpret the dark ways of Heaven, and to 
judge of things so far above our reach, one would think^that the 
miseries which fell upon this people, through the savage cruelty of 
the Danes, were dealt out by Providence as a just return for those 
evils which their everlasting contentions brought upon one another. 
Be this, however, as it might, the excess of tyranny practised by 
Turgesius, at length roused some of them from their desperation ; and 
by the event it was very evident that it was not owing to the superior 
power, or skill, or valour of these foreigners, that they trampled 
thus over the rights and liberties of the Irish, but to their own^spirit 
of discord ; and that they rather chose to suffer themselves, than 
that those whom they hated should not be miserable.' " 



CHAPTER LX. 



Tlie violent, arrogant, and despotic conduct of Turgesius. — He claims Malachy's 
Daughter, the Princess Melcha, for his Mistress. — King Malachy, hy a course of 
admirable policy, and an ingeniously planned stratagem, defeats the criminal pur- 
pose of the licentious despot. — Turgesius and his adherents ensnared. — His merited 
punishment and fate. — The expulsion of the Danes from Ireland, and the restora- 
tion of the Irish Monarchy. — The Danes succeed in a second invasion of Ireland. 
Dissensions amongst the Irish Princes. — Jl union of friendship and defence is 
effected by the Priest Eagna, between the disputing Irish chieftains. — ^ meeting 
of the States convened by King Malachy. — The Danes are vanquished in battle by 
the Monarch. — Malachy's death, and the accession of Hugh VI. to the throne. — The 
Dunes, commanded hy Amelaniis, attack the Irish, and gain a victory over them. 
Jl conflict ill Ulster, where the Danes are defeated. — Amelanus, icith his forces, 
surprises the Irish as they are returning from a victorious battle. — Death of the 
Monarch Hugh VI. 

Danish tyranny and power had now, in A. D. 849, reached a 
fearful force of preponderance in Ireland. The unfortunate Irish 
had to succumb, like slaves, under the iron rods of their oppressors. 
Law and justice were no longer respected at that period in Ireland ; 
and compassion became deaf to the wailings of complaint. The 
flagrant and wicked presumption and arrogance of Turgesius, were 
of the most barbarous and insolent character, as the following ex- 
tract from McDermott, will amply testify : 

" The Danish usurper, Turgesius, had a palace built for himself, in 
the same fort where Malachy, the king of Meath, and the legitimate 
Irish monarch resided. Though he arrogated supreme sway, yet he 
frequently condescended to visit his brother king, who, through 
policy, was obliged to entertain the Dane, whenever he thought 
proper to become his guest. During these repeated entertainments, 
the unwelcome visitant became acquainted with the person of one 
of King Malachy's daughters, who was exceedingly handsome, and 
jn a compulsatory manner he demanded the fair for his pleasure. 
The royal father endeavoured to amuse the Danish chief by assuring 



438 

him that there were several young ladies in his family or neighbour- 
hood, who far surpassed his daughter in beauty, and from whom, he 
was certain, he would derive much greater satisfaction. The arro- 
gant Dane, whose passions had hitherto been strangers to any 
refusal, and whose desire for this princess became exceedingly 
violent, declared his inflexible determination to take away the lady 
by force, and make her subservient to his lascivious will. 

Though stung to the heart at the infamous resolution of the tyrant, 
Malachy, with consummate policy, disguised his indignation and 
resentment ; he smothered his parental feelings, and artfully ap- 
peared delighted with the usurper's infamous design. Instead of an 
affront, he seemed to take it as an honour, and it induced the 
haughty Dane to believe, that for the sake of insuring his friendship 
and interest, he would with readiness and pleasure sacrifice a lovely 
daughter to his lewd embraces. Though dissimulation is not the 
characteristic of the Irish, particularly in provocations of this kind, 
yet Malachy might have had good reasons for practising the present 
evasion. In all probability Turgesius was well armed and attended 
during his visits, and the monarch would in vain have attempted to 
revenge the foul infamy which his heart abhorred. He therefore 
waited a better opportunity to frustrate the base intention of Tur- 
gesius, 

in rege tamen pater est. 

and amused the tyrant with an artful proposal : he held forth that 
as love and beauty seemed to be his chief delight, he was willing to 
gratify his inclinations to the utmost; and if it met with his appro- 
bation he would positively send his daughter to his palace, at a 
certain hour the next evening, accompanied with fifteen other 
blooming virgins, all of whom should far surpass the princess in 
external beauty. He advised Turgesius to invite some of his most 
skilful lords to be present at the time, and when the ladies were all 
before him, that he should then take their advice, and make his 
choice. If the princess proved the most agreeable, the father de- 
clared she was not too good to be at his service ; but if fascinated 
by any of the other ladies, he then trusted to his Jionoiir for the 
restoration of his daughter. 

The projects which Malachy adopted for the punishment of the 
audacious tyrant, and for the preservation of his daughter's virtue, 
is so exceedingly romantic that we shall give it in Dr. Warner's 
words ; who has recorded it on the authorities of Keating, Usher, 
Sir James Ware, «fcc. &c. 

' The lascivious Dane was not only satisfied, but extremely de- 
lighted with the proposal, and was lavish in his thanks and praises 
to Malachy for the contrivance. He was then going to Dublin, to a 
convention of his chiefs upon affairs of state ; in order still further 
to defeat the hopes of the natives, to defend the country from other 
invaders, and to perpetuate the succession to the government of the 
island among themselves. As soon as the business was finished, 
and the council had been entertained, the usurper selected fifteen of 
the company who were his greatest favourites, to whom he commu- 
nicated this intrigue ; and to whom he promised to sacrifice a beau- 



439 

tiful young virgin, if they would go with him to his palace. The 
proposal was not made with greater pleasure than it was accepted ; 
and they all repaired to the court of Turgesius with great impatience. 
The mind of Malachy, though for very different reasons, was not 
less at rest. Nothing was further from his intention, than the de- 
livering up his daughter, who was indeed extremely beautiful, to 
gratify the lust of this libidinous Dane; and yet he knew that his 
own life must not only pay the forfeit of his refusal, but that his 
daughter must also be the prey of his brutal appetite. What did he 
do therefore in this dilemma, but resolve upon an attempt, which, if 
it misc*arried, should leave them in no worse situation than they 
were in before; and if it succeeded, as he had great reason to hope 
it would, must rid him (them) for ever of this savage tyrant, whom 
it would sacrifice to the violence of his own lust. 

Accordingly he got together fifteen of the most lovely fair young 
men in his territories, on whose spirit and resolution he could de- 
pend, and after communicating the secret of his purpose to them, 
and taking their engagement to execute it to his wish, they were all 
attired Hke young ladies, and every one armed with a short sharp 
sword under their (his) robe. He then instructed them in the part 
they were to act, and assured them that he would follow with his 
guard at a little distance, to second and support them in what should 
remain to be done. Thus accouti*ed and disciplined, the princess 
and her companions went at the hour appointed to the Danish 
palace ; where they were no sooner arrived than they were con- 
ducted to the apartment, where the monarch and his associates were 
waiting to receive them. In order to disgust the ladies as little as 
possible with their appearance, all their arms were left below ; and 
their outward air of complacency and satisfaction kept equal pace 
with the inward pleasure that employed their minds. 

But the princess and her retinue were inspired with a love of 
another kind, a love of liberty and their country ; which they were 
resolved to redeem, or to perish in the attempt. Thus the one side 
thought of nothing but excessive dalliance and indulgence of desire, 
and the other was prepared for assassination. Accordingly when 
Turgesius had compared the princess with her train, and embraced 
her as a token of the choice he made, they, one and all, drew their 
swords at the same instant, and put every one of the Danes to death, 
except the tyrant himself, who, according to their instructions, was 
bound with cords they had brought concealed for that purpose. 
The signal was then given out of the window, as it had been agreed 
upon, to Malachy and his guards, who broke into the fort sword in 
hand, and giving no quarter, the officers and soldiers fell promis- 
cuously in the carnage, and not one escaped to tell their fate. The 
revenge of the Irish being thus fully satiated for the present, Malachy 
made it his first business to seek out and triumph over the usurper. 
Having upbraided him with a short narration of his monstrous 
cruelties, his many rapes and murders, and a general state of his 
oppression and tyranny, he ordered him to be heavy loaded with 
irons and to be dragged along in his procession to grace the victory.' 

We are not informed what part the princess took in this sudden 



440 

assassination; but, judging from tliat extreme modesty, for which 
the Irish ladies have long been celebrated, it may be presumed that 
as soon as she had liberated herself from the detested embrace of 
the Danish libertine, she, it was, who gave, or assisted in giving, 
the signal to her royal father and protector, and that she withdrew, 
as soon as possible, from the scene of blood and carnage. Dr. 
Warner's narrative is thus continued : 

' No sooner was this success over the Danes made known out of 
the fort, but it spread like fire over the island ; and the news could 
not be quicker than was the resolution of the Irish, to throw off the 
yoke which had so long enslaved them. As soon as the Danes 
understood that their king was taken prisoner, the principal nobility 
slaughtered, no quarter any where given, and themselves without a 
leader, they became in turn dispirited ; and as though the genius of 
Turgesius had been the charm that exalted his own countrymen, 
and depressed the Irish, no sooner was it broken by his imprison- 
ment, than the Danes lost all their courage ; and the natives, like 
men awakened out of a dream of slavery, were amazed to find 
themselves the conquerors. Such of the Danish invaders as lived 
near the coasts, betook themselves to their shipping with all possible 
expedition, and left the island. But those who had possessed them- 
selves of the inland country, were obliged to retreat into their cities 
and fortified places to secure themselves by their numbers. This 
retreat, however, availed them nothing. The Irish had now re- 
covered their pristine spirit ; and as though it had acquired strength 
from lying dormant, it every where burst out with a double fury. 
The towns and forts where the Danes had taken shelter, were 
assaulted and stormed with rage rather than valour ; the woods and 
wildernesses in which others had concealed themselves when the 
Irish quitted them, were cleared of their new inhabitants with an 
unrelenting vengeance ; no solitude nor flight was able to protect 
them from an enemy whom they had enraged with their violent 
treatment : in short, the Irish were determined to make use of this 
opportunity, to extirpate these barbarians at once out of the land, to 
complete the revolution, and to establish their government upon its 
ancient footing. 

When the usurper had been kept some time in fetters, in order to 
punish his haughty spirit, and to make him a witness to the miseries 
of his countrymen, he was drawn to Lough Leana,* by the command 

* Lough Leana, on one of the islands of v^hich Turgesius erected a lofty 
tumulus of earthern work, is a small, but beautiful lake, situated near the sylvan 
village of Fore, in the county of West Meath. It is studded with three shrub- 
shrouded islands of the most picturesque and romantic scenery. Nothing can 
exceed, in landscape charm, the country that environs this limpid lake, which is 
margined by a range of pastoral hills, clothed in wood. The pretty town of Castle- 
Pollard, with its outstretched gardens, and the mansion and domain of Packenham 
Hall, mingling and contrasting architectural grandeur, with sublime scenery, 
tend to give an Italian character to the imposing landscape which is spread around 
the Lake of Leana. 

On the subject of Turgesius's lawless love for King Malachy's daughter, the 
author of this History has written a drama, entitled " Ireland Redeemed, or the 
Devoted Princess," which was performed several times in the New York and 
Philadelphia Theatres. 



441 

of Malachy, amidst thousands of spectators exulting in his fate, and 
bound as he was, thrown in and drowned. Thus ended the Jife of 
the accursed tyrant Turgesius, after perpetrating a series of cruel- 
ties for many years abhorrent to our nature ; leaving an example to 
the world, how miserable and unexpected their fate often is, who, 
consulting nothing but their interest and the gratifications of their 
passions, think by cunning or violence to establish themselves in 
their power and greatness. The small remainder of the Danes who 
could neither save themselves by flight nor by their valour, were 
reduced to the necessity of begging quarter, and of promising to 
become obedient and useful servants to the Irish ; and the peace of 
the country being now secured, and the fury of the inhabitants in a 
great measure abated by the execution of the usurper, and by the 
slaughter or the flight of the greatest part of his men, these few 
were received to mercy, and being disarmed, their lives were spared.' 

No longer the nominal, but achioicledged monarch of Ireland, 
Malachy now took the reins of government into his own hands. 
Had it not been for the affront offered to his honour, by the pro- 
posed pollution of a beloved daughter, he would probably have 
terminated an insignificant reign in abject submission to an unprin- 
cipled despot, and the subjection of his unhappy subjects might have 
continued for many years,, as by increasing numbers, the enemy 
would have become more and more formidable. But from evil, 
good often springs. Even from a slavery of thirteen years, the Irish 
derived a salutary lesson^they learned from the Danes, who were 
well acquainted with trade, the advantages of traffic ; they perceived 
that the cultivation of commerce was productive of ease and tran- 
quillity to the community, and even tended to promote the domestic 
comforts of mutual love and friendship. Hence they began to relish 
a life of quietude, to see the folly of their former state of turbulency, 
and to be convinced that public concord was the best security of 
the public weal. 

Malachy having assembled the states of the kingdom, resettled 
the constitution upon its ancient footing. In this convention the 
provincial kings, the princes and lords were restored to their juris- 
diction, and though they could not recover all their treasures of 
gold and silver, and jewels, the spoils of many foreign princes 
brought home to Ireland through many hundred years by their 
predecessors, yet every private person was restored to his land and 
cattle, and the state recovered its civil policy. 

Instead of profiting by the hardships which they had experienced, 
and of employing their time and strength to their own glory, and to 
the public good, by fitting out ships, extending their commerce with 
foreign nations, and in securing their country by fleets and fortifi- 
cations against all invaders, this infatuated people remained in a 
state of inactivity and indolence. They never repaired the Danish 
fortifications which, in their battles with the enemy, they had de- 
molished, or wisely planned the erection of new ones on their 
coasts ; but devoted their time to unprofitable amusements. Instead 
of taking the trouble of even guarding their seaports, Avhich were 
their principal defence against invaders, they foolishly employed 
56 



443 

their late vanquished enemies to whom they had given a pardon, and 
who were retained in their pay, to be their sentinels in stations of 
such great importance. 

It is no wonder then that the Danes, who were well acquainted 
with the wealth and fertility of the island, should avail themselves 
of this want of security and precaution in the nation. Though they 
had experienced the valour and martial fortitude of the Irish, they 
still entertained sanguine hopes of regaining a settlement among 
them. By stratagem they had been expelled, and they thought, by 
stratagem, they might again obtain possession. After many con- 
sultations among the chiefs to this purpose, it was at last agreed to 
send a fleet of ships in the way of traffic, with goods and merchan- 
dize of various sorts, without any appearance of hostile force or 
instruments of war ; but yet under the conduct of three of their best 
generals, and with a sufficient number of arms concealed, which 
might be ready when occasion offei'ed. No sooner was this project 
concerted than it was immediately put into execution, and the author 
of the ' Polychronicon' gives the following account of this expe- 
dition : 

'After the death of Turgesius, the three brothers, Amelanus, 
Cyracus, and Imorus, went in a peaceable manner from the ports 
of Norway ; and under the pretence pf exercising trade and com- 
merce as merchants, they arrived with their followers on the island, 
and with the consent of the Irish, who had given them up as an 
inactive people, they occupied the maritime places and built the 
cities* of Waterford, Dublin and Limerick; but their numbers in- 
creasing daily, they often insulted and disturbed the natives.' 

The Norwegians, by this device, and under the conduct of these 
officers in the disguise of merchants, had made the Irish the instru- 
ments of their own destruction. They not only obtained settlements 
in the best parts of the island, but gradually impi'oved them by 
making fresh acquisitions, till at length they had it in their power to 
dispute the whole with the natives, and oftentimes to enslave them. 
This is called the second Danish war by historians ; but it was suc- 
ceeded by other battles more properly entitled to the name of Danish 
wars. Though the present enemy were continually reinforced 
through their abundant supplies of men and shipping, they would 
not have found the subjection of the Irish an easy task, had not the 
Irish assisted them by their own disseilsions. Their natural dispo- 
sition to feuds and animosities broke out again among themselves, 
and paved the way for their own misfortunes. The same contests 
prevailed about the government of a province, a barony or district, 
as heretofore, and were in the same manner decided by the longest 
sword. The Norwegians took every advantage of these tumultuary 
dissensions; and while the petty princes were contending against 
each other, they seized the opportunity of their being thus weakened, 
and subduing the victor and the vanquished, obliged each of them 
to confess their superior authority. Thus they possessed themselves 

* As these cities had been built many years before this expedition, the meaning 
of the above sentence must be, that they were rebuilt out of their ruins, having 
been burnt or demolished in the first Danish war, as it was called. 



443 

of all the seaports, and, undisturbed by the infatuated Irish, carried 
on, in a great measure, all the foreign trade of the island. 

The success of the Norwegians having reached the knowledge of 
some of their old neighbours, the Danes, the latter renewed their 
predatory attempts on the weakest parts of the island ; they met 
with little or no opposition from the natives, for the Irish were very 
indifferent who were their visitors on this occasion ; they seemed as 
willing to have the Danes as the Norwegians, and in all probability 
they had hopes of deriving some assistance from this union ; for we 
cannot suppose that patriotism and the love of liberty were wholly 
extinguished. When the Danes began to harass the infant city of 
Dublin, and the territories adjacent, in which the Norwegians were 
equally, if not principally concerned, it certainly became the interest 
of the Norwegians to oppose their progress. A select body of troops 
was therefore got together with all possible expedition, and having 
marched against the Danes, the Norwegians offered them battle ; 
the challenge was readily accepted, and a sanguinary contest ensued, 
the Irish remaining entirely neutral ; aware, no doubt, that one 
party would exterminate the other, and that, by these means, they 
might be liberated from their adversaries. After a violent struggle, 
the Danes obtained the victory, the Norwegians having been defeated 
with the loss of their best forces, and a thousand men left dead on 
the field. The Danes, encouraged by this success, seized every 
opportunity of improving their victory : they dispossessed their 
enemy, the Norwegians, and having driven them from the island, 
they took both their stations and their treasures. They then turned 
their arms against the Irish, in order to secure what they had pos- 
sessed themselves of, as vpell as to acquire the same authority over 
the natives, as their predecessors had enjoyed ; and as the Irish 
were unprepared for resistance, it is no wonder that the success of 
their new enemies was complete. Indeed the Danes had now ob- 
tained such a happy settlement in this fertile island, that it was 
looked upon as a provision for a prince of the house of Denmark, 
and Amelanus was accordingly appointed to take the command of 
all his countrymen in Ireland. This royal chief no sooner put him- 
self at their head, than he successively fought the natives who had 
revolted, and having imposed heavy contributions, the Irish were 
again reduced to a state of servitude. 

Thus oppressed and robbed of their hereditary possessions, the 
Irish saw the necessity of being united, in order to recover their 
liberty, and repel the enemy. Notwithstanding this conviction, 
Eagna, a priest, found it a most difficult task to bring about a union 
sufficiently strong for this purpose, so great an animosity subsisted 
at this time between some of the princes of the southern, and the 
inhabitants of the northern half of the island. Strange indeed that 
any pains should be necessary to accomplish such a necessary point ; 
and far more strange it may be deemed, that, at such a crisis as 
this, only one man should be found, who had public spirit enough to 
recommend and undertake it. The repeated admonitions of Eagna 
at length prevailed ; and a truce having been agreed upon, a sum- 
mons was issued by King Malachy for a general convention of the 



444 

states of the kingdom. It required no long deliberation to prevail 
upon themselves to follovp the advice of Eagna ; for they were all 
truly sensible of it, as already intimated; and it was resolved that 
the king of Ossory, (who had behaved himself with great petulance 
and rudeness to tlie priest, when he was endeavouring to persuade 
him to this union,*) should not only make a submission to Eagna, 
who had been so laudably diligent and anxious for the public weal, 
but that the said king should also, with the son of the king of Mun- 
ster, conclude a peace with the northern half of the island, that they 
might all of them be at liberty to unite their forces against the com- 
mon enemy. 

Agreeable to this resolution, but not before the king of Munster 
had been stoned to death by the Danes, King Malachy having raised 
a very powerful army, marched against the enemy, and obtained a 
complete victory over the Danes, particularly those who were quar- 
tered in and about Dublin, where the greatest part of them lay slain. 
The monarch lived but a short time to enjoy the fruits of his victory, 
and indeed he possessed little or no happiness during his reign. He 
was, for the first thirteen years, more the slave of Turgesius than 
the sovereign of a kingdom, and the last three years of his reign had 
been full of distraction, through the intestine quarrels of his subjects, 
and the frequent attempts and successes of invaders. This monarch 
appears to have been a man of equal courage and ability, and had 
he lived a little longer, in all probability, as the peace of his king- 
dom was then established, for a time at least, he might have proved 
as successful against the prince of Denmark, as he had been against 
Turgesius and his followers. The Irish wanted nothing, it seems, 
but a union under such a leader, to defeat their enemies ; their mili- 
tary genius and powers generally insured success, except when they 
were unnaturally opposed against each other. 

Hugh, or Aodh the 6th, son of Nial the third, who had been king 
of Temoria, ascended the throne on the death of Malachy, A. D. 
863. It is supposed that on the death of Malachy and the accession 
of Hugh, the union of the kingdom was dissolved, as, in a short 
time after, a battle took place between the Danes, under the com- 
mand, it is said, of Amelanus, and a prince of Meath, at the head of 
a body of Irish, in which the latter were discomfited: this, however, 
might have been a casual engagement ; the Irish might have been 
surprised in their march, and a combat rendered unavoidable : but 
whether a rencounter or a battle, it is certain that Amelanus imme- 
diately after transported his forces into Scotland ; and, according to 
the fashion of his country, plundered many of the inhabitants there, 
and having made several of them prisoners, returned with a con- 
siderable booty to Ireland. 

If, according to supposition, the union of the kingdom had been 
dissolved on the death of Malachy, it must again have been revived 
during the reign of King Hugh ;, as a pitched battle was fought in 
Ulster between that monarch at the head of a numerous army, and 
the Danes; in which the latter were completely routed, with the 

* Dr. Warner gives this parenthetical remark as a suj>posit/.on ; but the resolu- 
tion which was agreed tjpon, is a sufficient proof of the /acf. 



445 

loss of twelve hundred slain in the field ; and the heads of forty of 
their chief officers were brought away in triumph. All the forces on 
each side seem to have been employed on this occasion, and as the 
engagement was general, so likewise was the defeat. The Irish, 
when united, were, as before intimated, always conquerors. Those 
of the Danish army who had eftected their escape, sought refuge in 
their fortifications; but were immediately pursued, attacked and 
beaten, and all the spoils and plunder which tliey had previously 
made, now fell into the hands of the Irish. The palace wliich Ame- 
lanus possessed in one of those forts, was set on fire by the natives, 
and during the confusion which the conflagration occasioned in the 
garrison, the attack of the Irish was so sudden and violent, that a 
hundred of the principal Danish officers fell, and very few of the 
enemy escaped. 

In order to revenge on the Irish this general rout of his whole 
army, Amelanus waited in ambuscade,* for the return of the victors, 
who, elate with their success, were now marching home in separate 
bodies. Two thousand of the natives were thus surprised, slaugh- 
tered, or taken prisoners. The vindictive Dane then marched, with 
his remaining forces, to Armagh, and having plundered that city 
and its environs, with all the fury of an enraged and disappointed 
enemy, he and his troops hastily repaired to their vessels and quitted 
the island. Thus the natives were again left to themselves. 

After a reign of sixteen years, the monarch Hugh died a natural 
death : he saw the tranquillity of his country effected by the slaugh- 
ter and expulsion of her savage enemies ; but did not live long to 
enjoy the fruits of that tranquillity : indeed some time was required 
to repair and rebuild the ruined monasteries and demolished 
churches. Owing to the destruction of those repositories of records, 
and memoranda of political events, the ecclesiastical history of Ire- 
land affords but little information at this period. The clergy having 
been despoiled of -what was intended for their subsistence, were 
obliged to quit their sacred function, and arm themselves in defence 
of their country ; consequently there were few men of learning 
whose literary labours could be of any worth to posterity ; for the 
historians who have treated of those calamitous times, have chiefly 
written from memory or tradition and could not be either satisfac- 
tory or correct." 

•' Though this kind of stratagem in war is censured by Dr. Warner, as deroga- 
tory to valour and true fortitude, the most distingushed generals of all nations 
have occasionally adopted it ; we read that Cyrus, the Persian, by a pretended 
flight, induced his enemies to pursue him, when they were suddenly surrounded 
by his divided armies and cut to pieces. 



CHAPTER LXI. 

The elevation of Flan, the son of King Malachy, to the Irish throne. — Invasion of 
Munster by the new monarch. — The result of that invasion.— Cob.uac Mac- 
cuiLLNAN acts US Prince and Archbishop of Cashel. — His reign and death. — The 
bravery and devotion of the army of Munster. — Conduct of the Bishop of Inis- 
Cathy, — he is captured in Leinster, and aftericards succeeds to the crown of Mun- 
ster. — Death of the monarch Flan, and the siicccssion of JVial IV., the husband of 
the Princess Mclcha, daughter of Malachy. — Reneical of hostilities by the Danes. 
The death of King JVial, and the accession and reign of Donough. — Ceallach 
raised to the throne of Munster, and the design of Sitrick, the Danish Prince, to 
assassinate him, which is frustrated by Sitrick' s wife. — Ceallach captured by 
the Danes. — Great naval fight at Dundalk. 

McDermott's narrative of the events that will be detailed in this 
chapter, is so luminous and comprehensive, that we deem it better 
to quote it than to write it ourself. 

" Flan, the son of Malachy, who had been king of Temoria, as- 
cended the throne on the death of Hugh, A. D. 879. No sooner 
was Flan invested with the sovereign authority, than he raised an 
army to invade the province of Munster. Historians are silent with 
respect to the motive which induced the monarch, as soon as he was 
crowned, to invade one of his own provinces. The publicity of a 
cause at the time of action, may render it a mystery to future gene- 
rations ; as the annalists of the early ages, who never attended to 
the niinutia; of events, saw no necessity in recording what was then 
well known. The royal army, which had been raised for this pur- 
pose, were, no doubt, acquainted with the provocation, and probably 
deemed it a just cause of resentment ; and yet the cause, if now 
ascertained, might appear insignificant, such was the spirit of the 
Irish, whose pride was easily hurt. Whatever might have been the 
necessity for this attack, the revenge was certainly great. The pro- 
vincial troops of Munster being either unprepared for resistance, or 
unwilling to oppose the monarch, submitted to the royal army ; 
who, after they had plundered the inhabitants, made several of them 
prisoners. Though there were no foreign enemies now to molest 
the island, domestic dissensions prevailed, and those intestine dis- 
turbances were productive of much bloodshed. Donald, one of their 
chiefs, was treacherously assassinated by some of his pretended 
friends, and the king of Ulster was murdered, in a most barbarous 
manner, by his own subjects. 

Happily, however, those civil feuds subsided, and peace and tran- 
quillity rendered the island prosperous for some years. The lands 
were every where cultivated and manured, and yielded a great plenty 
of crops. The natives began to repair or rebuild the churches, 
abbeys, and other religious houses : academies and schools were 
again opened for the education of youth in arts and sciences, as well 
as in languages, and the blessings of civilization and industry ex- 
tended all over the country. 

At this time the archbishop of Cashel, Cormac Maccuillnan, com- 
monly called the holy Cormac, was in possession of the crown of 



447 

Munster, and all the old historians attribute the happiness and pros- 
perity which now prevailed, to the pious care and abilities of this 
king. Dr. Warner thinks it probable that Flan, the njonarch of 
Ireland, was as much employed in bringing about a reconciliation 
among the contending parties, ' as he had certainly more authority, 
and was interested more in a general peace than Cormac,' in whom 
were united the characters of king and priest ; and he therefore 
conceives that the praises of Cormac had been exaggerated through 
the partiality of the monkish writers. Though Flan, as monarch of 
Ireland, had greater sway, Cormac, in his double capacity, could 
probably command greater attention ; and it is evident that the 
former, by his invasion of Munster, and the revenge which he took 
on the unprepared troops of that province, immediately after the 
crown was fixed upon his head, was not possessed of a placable, 
reconciliatory spirit. The old writers seem to infer that the monarch 
of Ireland had imbibed this amity and love of concord from the holy 
Cormac : but, observes Dr. Warner, ' if he (Cormac) was the only 
person who had the merit of bringing about the tranquillity above 
mentioned, to him must be ascribed the blame of being the first that 
overturned it ;' and the same author endeavours to prove that he 
was not such a saint as these historians represent him — ' a just and 
learned prince, whom fortune favoured in all his undertakings, whom 
his enemies dreaded, and whom his subjects almost adored.' Be it 
observed, in answer to this, that every saint on earth is but — a man, 
and that the best of us all are liable at times to go astray. 

As it was the determination of Cormac to celebrate the feast of 
Easter, which was approaching, with great state and magnificence 
at his palace of Cashel, he despatched a messenger, for this purpose, 
to the inhabitants of the territory adjoining it, namely, the people of 
Eaganach, in the neighbourhood of his see in Cashel, and subjects 
in his province, demanding a sufficient quantity of provision for his 
table and retinue, during his stay at Cashel upon that occasion. 
But the people of Eaganach refused to comply ; ' being,' observes 
Dr. Warner, 'strangers to such a demand, and though they might 
not have objected to entertain him as their archbishop, with such a 
modest and humble train as is necessary to that character, yet the 
royal dignity required more expense than they chose to undergo for 
his reception.' As soon as the tribe of Dalgais,* who also belonged 
to his province, were apprised of this refusal, they distinguished 
their loyalty upon this occasion, by sending in the provision which 
was necessary for the support of his royal dignity whilst he staid at 
Cashel, and which Cormac, with many acknowledgments, received. t 

Determined to try the affections of the people of Eaganach still 

* The princes of these people were, by a younger branch, the descendants of 
Olioll Olum, who had the country of Thomond for their possession, and who 
always took up arms in defence of the lungs of Munster, against any other pro- 
vincial troops, and particularly against the army of the northern half of the king- 
dom. There were twelve cantreds in the division belonging to the crown of 
Thomond, and their territories extended to the walls of Cashel. The tribe of the 
Dalgais were very renowned in arms. 

t Cormac, in his psalter, has celebrated the extraordinary valour of the tribe of 
the Dalgais, probably owing to their loyalty and liberality on this occasion. 



448 

further, the king of Munster sent another message to them, desiring 
that they would assist him with some of their best arms and horses, 
in order to enable him to make such presents to the strangers, who 
should repair to his court, as would be worthy of his own dignity, 
and honourable to the donors. The messenger was also instructed 
to insinuate to these people, that as they must be sensible of the ob- 
hgations which they lay under to the king, and had not paid hira 
the usual compliments on his accession to the crown of Muiister, he 
had anticipated a ready compliance with this request. What these 
obligations were, cannot be ascertained ; they might, in a great 
raeasure, refer to the then tranquillity and flourishing state of the 
island ; and the usual compliments alluded to, might consist of 
presents or certain forms, like the addresses of the present day. 

Though the people of Eaganach did not absolutely give a refusal 
to the king's second demand, as they had to the first, their compli- 
ance was far more mortifying than a denial ; they sent to the court 
of Cormac all the meanest and most battered arms, and the most 
disabled and most ill looking horses that could be found. This 
affront was also resented by the loyal tribe of the Dalgais, who im- 
mediately collected some of their finest horses and furniture, and a 
great quantity of excellent arms and jewels, which they had saved 
or taken from the Danes, and presented them to their king. 

According to ancient historians, Cormac was advised by the prin- 
cipal nobility and gentry of his province, to invade the territories of 
Leinster, and to demand a tribute or chief-rent from the inhabitants; 
which, if they refused to pay, his army should take by force. Upon 
the deliberations of his council, and particularly by the instigation 
of Flaherty, abbot of Tnis-Cathy,* the king of Munster raised a nu- 
merous array, consisting of the flower of his provincial troops, and 
prepared for the expedition. These historians add that the king 
w-as not inclined to proceed, as he was aware from a prophetic spirit 
with which he was endued, that he should lose his life in the action. 
On this expedition Dr. Warner thus expatiates : 

' The Boromean tribute, from the province of Leinster to the 
monarchs of Ireland, we have heard of over and over ; but what 
tribute could be due to the king of Munster, or upon what account 
the Leinster people should make an acknowledgment of subjection 
to that king, it is impossible for us to say. There is nothing in the 
history, as I remember, that can warrant any such claim ; and if 
there was, it had been worn out by time and accidents. When the 
whole island, therefore, was enjoying rest and tranquillity, and 
the spirits of men were grown calm and sociable, to involve these 
two provinces, and perhaps the greatest part of the kingdom, in a 
new quarrel on that account, was a conduct unworthy of a good 
king, but in an archbishop was highly criminal. Whether the tale 
of his pretended prophetic spirit, which the historians have artfully 

* Inis-Cathy is a beautiful and fertile island, situated in the mouth of the river 
Shannon, partly in the counties of Clare and Kerry. St. Patrick founded an abbey 
here, over which he placed St. Senan as abbot and bishop. This little See, as we 
have already stated, was united to that of Limerick in the year 1190. For many 
ages no woman was permitted to visit the island. When we bring down this his- 
tory to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, we will say more of Inis-Cathy. 



449 

introduced, in order to make the world believe he was impelled to 
this undertaking absolutely against his will by the importunity of 
his council, will exculpate Cormac from this crime, shall be left to 
the reader's determination. But surely he might have a presenti- 
ment of his death in the approaching battle, as many a man has 
had, without a prophetic spirit ; and many a man too has been de- 
ceived in such a foreboding.' 

While the proper measures for this expedition vrere concerted, 
the king deemed it expedient to settle his private aftairs, particularly 
on account of his presentiment that he should never return from the 
war. He therefore sent a messenger to Lorcan, king of Thomond, 
to attend him to his camp, before he passed the frontiers. Lorcan 
having obeyed the summons with alacrity, and a council of the prin- 
cipal nobility, and officers of the province of Munster having been 
called, the king informed them that he thought it necessary before 
he engaged in the war against the province of Leinster, from which 
he apprehended he should never return, to settle the succession to the 
crown, in order to defeat the pretensions of any contending parties, 
and prevent future disturbances. Then taking Lorcan by the hand, 
he presented him to the council as his lawful successor, according 
to the will of their great ancestor, Olioll Olum ; who ordained that 
the crown of Munster should descend alternately to the posterity of 
his eldest and his second son.* Cormac then made his will, which 
was written in verse. t 

The provincial troops having been assembled at the place of ren- 
dezvpus, the monarch, attended by Flaherty, the bishop and abbot 

^ Olioll Olum had ordained that the succession to his province should be alter- 
nate in the posterity of his two sons; and contrary to this injunction the crown 
had been enjoyed by four and forty descendants from the eldest son, without inter- 
ruption; and those of the youngest son had, during that period, been confined to 
the little government of Thornond, in that province ; of which number was 
Lorcan, whom Cormac nominated to succeed him in the throne of Munster, and 
whose tribe had given him such remarkable instances of loyalty. lie had an an- 
cient title of 600 years date to plead, but then it had been set aside in forty-four 
successions. Cormac, however, hoped to revive it in favour of Lorcan, and to 
prevent any disturbances after his death. 

t Dr. Warner satirically writes, " and, being very poetically inclined, made his 
will in verse." It should be recollected that this archbishop-king bore the charac- 
ter of a prophet, and as vates signifies prophet or poet, these characters were of 
course united. This will serve to give us some idea of the men and manners of 
those times. His golden vestment which he wore as an archbishop in divine ser- 
vice, his clock, his royal robes, embroidered with gold and jewels, his armour and 
coat of mail of polished steel, his golden chain, and his wardrobe, he bequeathed 
to particular friends. His legacies to abbeys and religious houses are thus enume- 
rated : an ounce of gold, an ounce of silver, his horse and furniture to Ard-finnan : 
a gold and silver chalice and vestment of silk to Lismore : a gold and silver 
chalice, four ounces of gold, and five of silver to Cashel : three ounces of gold and 
an ounce of silver to Glendaloch : a horse and furniture, an ounce of gold, and an 
embroidered vestment to Kildare : three ounces of gold to Inis-Cathy : three 
ounces of gold, an embroidered vestment, and his blessing to Mountgaret, county 
of Wexford -. and four and twenty ounces of gold to Aimagh. The royal Psalter, 
which preserved, he said, the ancient records and monuments of his native coun- 
try, and which were faithfully transcribed, he left to Cashel, where he built the 
cathedral, to be deposited for the use of future ages. If we consider the excessive 
scarcity of gold and silver in those times, these were not inconsiderable benefac- 
tions for a provincial king. 

57 



of Inis-Cathy, who was now a general, put himself at their head, 
and marched towards the confines of the province of Leinster. On 
his arrival there he ordered the whole army to halt, and sent a 
herald to the king of that province, to demand a yearly tribute as a 
testimony of subjection, or hostages for the payment of it; and in 
case of refusal to declare war. Durii^ tiie absence of the herald, 
Flaherty rode through the ranks for the purpose of viewing the Ma- 
monian camp, and acquiring a knowledge of their force. His horse, 
however, unaccustomed to martial trappings, took fright at the noise 
and glitter of the arms, and fell with his rider into a ditch. Though 
Flaherty escaped from this accident, the soldiery were panic-struck, 
and^ deeming it an unpropitious omen, several of them deserted. 

Ambassadors from the province of Leinster accompanied the 
herald on his return, who, desiring to enter into a treaty with 
Cormac, requested a suspension of hostilities in the interim, or, if 
the treaty should prove ineffectual, until the month of May ensuing. 
It seems the harvest had just then begun, and it was mutually bene- 
ficial to both provinces, if no amicable arrangements could be made, 
that the contest should be postponed until the spring. In order to 
induce the king of Munster to accept this proposal, and to assure 
him that it was made through a sincere desire of peace, the king of 
Leinster sent him a very considerable present in money and jewels, 
offering hostages to remain with a neutral abbot until the treaty 
should be concluded. Aware of the great influence which the abbot 
of Inis-Cathy had with the king, noble presents M^ere also sent to 
him, which Flaherty accepted, notwithstanding his disposition still 
remained hostile. 

This proposal appeared so reasonable to Cormac, who was averse 
to the war, that he declared his readiness to accept it. But when 
the king of Munster besought the acquiescence of Flaherty, this im- 
placable abbot not only rejected the proposal with indignation, but 
upbraided the king of Munster for listening to it ; and even told him, 
in the presence of the ambassadors, that the paleness of his counte- 
nance apparently betrayed his want of courage ; with many other 
expressions of an equal tendency. Instead of resenting with royal 
spirit this foul imputation, and adhering to his own determination, 
Cormac meekly denied the abbot's charge against him, and probably 
for the purpose of refuting it, consented to a prosecution of the war. 
He was, however, exceedingly mortified at Flaherty's conduct ; for 
as soon as the ambassadors departed, he retired to his tent with 
evident signs of sorrow and strong emotions. Hither the chief offi- 
cers of the army repaired to know the result of the king of Leinster's 
proposal, Cormac assured them that the war must be carried on ; 
but so evident was his anguish of mind, that they endeavoured to 
cheer his spirits, and persuade him to take some refreshments. The 
king stjll remained inconsolable through the presentiment of falling 
in the field of battle ; but he conjured the company to keep that ap- 
prehension a profound secret, that the soldiers, with whom he was 
determined to sell his life at a dear rate, should not be intimidated. 

After this conversation the king of Munster requested to be left 
alone, that he might spend the little leisure he had from public 



451 

affairs, in preparing himself for his expected dissolution. Having 
sent for his confessor, he added a codicil to his will, relative to his 
interment, in case his body should be recovered from the enemy. 
Manach, confessor to the king's confessor, a man of strict piety and 
exemplary benevolence, entered at this very juncture, to heal, if 
possible, the breach, and to avert the horrors of war. ' When,' 
observes Dr. Warner, ' he had used all the arguments that could be 
drawn from humanity and religion, in support of his advice, which 
he addressed, no doubt, to Cormac in his character of archbishop, 
and found they were urged in vain, he then applied himself to him 
as a soldier and a king, shewing the little chance there was of his 
success from the superior number of the enemy. He informed him 
that Flan, the monarch of Ireland, disgusted at his refusing such 
honourable conditions as had been offered him, had joined the forces 
of Leinster with the royal army, and was then actually at the palace 
of that king, with his guards, as his auxiliary. He represented, 
therefore, to Cormac, the prudence and policy of accepting the 
hostages as preliminaries of a treaty ; instead of referring their dis- 
pute to the decision of a battle, in which it was almost certain his 
army would be defeated.' 

It seems the reproaches of Flaherty had a greater effect upon the 
king of Munster than all the arguments of the pious and benevolent 
Manach ; even though immediate circumstances added weight to 
those arguments; for it was no sooner known in the camp that the 
royal ariny had joined the troops of Leinster, than that several of 
the king of Munster's soldiers deserted, causing a serious diminution 
in his troops : and all tliat remained not only declared themselves 
advocates for peace, but publicly expatiated on the reasonableness 
of the proposal made by the king of Leinster, and on the quality of 
the hostages intended, being of no less rank than royal blood — 
namely : the son of the king of Leinster, and the son of the king of 
Ossory. They even openly accused Flaherty, the abbot of Inis- 
Cathy, as the seducer of the king, and the author of all the miseries 
which such an unequal war must produce. 

The infatuated king, however, was as blind to all those circum- 
stances as he was deaf to all the arguments of Manach, yet Cormac 
is extolled by historians for his wisdom, justice and goodness, as 
Dr. Warner harps upon ; but we have already observed that every 
saint has his errors: the most wise, the most just, and the best may 
be led astray by evil counsel. The above mentioned writer, though 
perhaps unintentionally, has found this excuse for him : 

' But Cormac, with all his wisdom, justice, and goodness, though 
he was convinced by Manach's reasoning, by his own inclinations, 
and by the aversion which his army showed to the war, that it would 
be unjust, that it would be dangerous, nay, that it would be destruc- 
tion to carry it on, yet so enslaved he was by his favourite — as 
all kings that have favourites are — and his favourite was a man of 
such an impetuous, overruling, implacable disposition, that nothing 
could soften him into compliance, nothing could tempt the king to 
thwart him.' 

The commencement of hostilities at length took place : orders 



452 

were given to strike their tents, to break up the camp, and march 
on towards the enemy. When they arrived at the plains of Magh 
Albhe,* which the king intended for the field of battle, a camp was 
marked out and fortified by the side of a wood, in which Cor mac 
staid to receive the enemy. The order of battle having been here 
appointed, the army was divided into three bodies : the first was 
commanded by the king of Ossory and the abbot of Inis-Cathy ; the 
second by the king of Munster, and the king of the Deasies was the 
leader of the third. 

The allied army, with the monarch of Ireland at their head, 
having been represented as five to one, the forces of Munster shrunk 
from the attack, as soon as the signal for battle was given. To add 
to their discouragement a Momonian general of the blood-royal, 
who, from the beginning, had been averse to the war, rode through 
the ranks, and addressing himself aloud to the soldiers, expatiated 
on the rashness and folly of Flaherty, and advised them to leave the 
priest and his clergy to fight it out by themselves, and save their 
own lives by flight : then clapping spurs to his horse, he galloped 
out of the field. This exhortation had such an effect upon the Mun- 
ster forces, that the soldiers who heard it, immediately laid down 
their arms and betook themselves to flight. Elate with the hope of 
success, the allied army cut down all before them ; while the troops 
of Munster, engaged in a cause which they disliked, for a king whose 
credulity they deplored, and for a general whose presumption they 
deprecated, became an easy prey. The king of Ossory, who had 
the joint command of the right wing with the bishop of Inis-Cathy, 
was so shocked at the dreadful slaughter of his men, that he rode 
with the utmost speed out of the field, calling to his remaining sol- 
diers to follow his example before it was too late. The engagement, 
which began with irresistible fury, continued but a short time, as 
the flights were sudden and immediate. The chief of the slaughter 
was in the pursuit: even the king of Ossory was too late in his at- 
tempt to escape. If, after the first fury of tlie allied army, any per- 
sons of rank were saved, it was more for the sake of a large sum 
for their ransom than from a principle of humanity. Several of the 
most eminent clergy, principal officers and nobility, among whom 
were six of the petty princes of Munster, fell in this action. Even 
the abbot of Inis-Cathy, who was the occasion of all this bloodshed 
and carnage, was numbered among the prisoners. 

The king of Munster had exposed himself at the head of his 
troops in the front of the battle, and by his exertions confuted 
Flaherty's base insinuations of cowardice. Unfortunately he was 
flung from his horse into a pit with so much violence that he was 
not able to rise. Some of his troops, who were making their escape 
from the field of action, saw his critical situation, and having with 
great difficulty remounted him on another horse, left him to manage 
for himself. Cormac, soon after, saw one of his officers, who was 
much in his favour, approaching, and having learned from him the 
entire defeat and slaughter of his army, he commanded the officer 

* Whether Magh Albhe, the scene of this battle, is in the King's or Queen's 
county, we cannot presume to assert. 



453 

instantly to depart and insure his own preservation ; which injunc- 
tion was reluctantly obeyed. The unfortunate king; of Munster ex- 
pected that his enemies would overtake him to fulfil his prediction, 
and in an endeavour to ride up a steep ascent, rendered exceedingly 
slippery by the blood of the slain, his horse made a false step, and 
tumbling with his rider down to the bottom, the king's neck and 
back-bone were broken, and he died upon the spot. ' His death 
was such,' observes Dr. Warner, ' as might have happened in any 
other field, as well as in a field of battle ;' but it certainly was occa- 
sioned by the ill-advised contest. Cormac's body having been found 
by some of the allied army, they inhumanly cut off the head, and 
carried it in triumph to the monarch of Ireland. Instead, however, 
of receiving any reward or commendation for this service, as in all 
probability they expected, the monarch of Ireland, disgusted at such 
an unexpected sight, upbraided those barbarous ruffians for violating 
the law of nations, which forbids the mangling of the dead, and 
ordered them instantly to quit his presence : then taking up the 
head and kissing it, with tears in his eyes, he lamented the instability 
of all human greatness, and the untimely fate of this venerable king 
and prelate. 

As soon as Flan had refreshed his troops after the victory, and 
received the acknowledgments of the king of Leinster for his ser- 
vices, he marclied to Ossory, in order to settle the succession to the 
sovereignty of that petty kingdom, which was under the king of 
Munster ; there having been some dispute among the brothers of 
the king of Ossory, who, as before intimated, had been slain in this 
battle. The monarch of Ireland settled this to his satisfaction by 
placing the crown on the head of Dermod, the elder brother, and 
returned with his army to his own palace. In a short time after. 
Flan died a natural death, having reigned thirty-seven years, (a pro- 
tracted reign indeed for this age) and was succeeded by Nial the 
fourth, son of Hugh the sixth, his predecessor, A. D. 916. 

Though Cormac Maccuillnan had called a council for the pur- 
pose of settling the succession to the crown of Munster, and had 
nominated Lorcan in form, yet the council after his death, annulled 
the nomination, and gave the crown of Munster to another. This 
is a signal instance of the vanity of human foresight ; kings may 
decree, but the ratification depends upon the will of Heaven — this 
indeed leaves the character of Cormac, as a prophet, very question- 
able ; and proves that he was not so beloved by the people, as histo- 
rians have laboured to represent. 

Carroll, the king of Leinster, had derived considerable booty from 
this battle ; and his triumph was graced by a great number of 
prisoners of the most distinguished rank. Among the foremost of 
these, was, as before observed, Flaherty, the abbot of Inis-Cathy, 
who was of the blood-royal of Munster. The clergy and people of 
Leinster were so enraged against this man, and so deservedly, as 
the chief author of the war, and the cause of all the bloodshed on 
both sides, that they upbraided him. Mobile he was led along, in the 
most opprobrious language, which must have been a mortification, 
more painful perhaps than death, to one of his imperious disposition. 



454 

Nor was this the only punishment he met with ; he was closely im- 
prisoned and most severely treated during the life of Carroll, and 
for a year after his death. When he had received a pardon, and 
was released from liis captivity, the abbess of St. Bridget, appre- 
hending that tlie people would tear him to pieces, prevailed upon 
some of the clergy to go with a guard to escort him out of the pro- 
vince of Leinster. Flaherty then retired to his monastery of Inis- 
Cathy, and gave himself up to devotion. Here he continued in the 
regular exercise of piety and repentance, till the throne of Munster 
became vacant by the death of Cormac's successor, to which he was 
then called as the next heir. He now proved the sincerity of his 
contrition by his meritorious government of that province till his 
death, having been as much beloved by his subjects, as he had been 
previously execrated by the people. 

The Danes having been informed of the late dissensions in Ire- 
land, judged this to be a favourable opportunity to renew their 
attacks upon this island ; for they were well aware that an expedi- 
tion for this purpose, would not only be dangerous but unsuccessful 
as long as the Irish remained united among themselves. A great 
fleet was therefore fitted out by the Danes for the invasion of Ire- 
land, and scarcely had Nial tasted the luxuries of royalty, before he 
was obliged to endanger both his life and kingdom in a battle with 
these foreign enemies in the plains of Ulster ; which, though it ter- 
minated in his favour, was attended with considerable loss to both 
parties. 

Another body of the Danes landed on the coast of Leinster about 
the same time, and ravaged that province with their usual rapacity. 
The king of Leinster gathered his troops as soon as possible and 
gave them battle ; but his forces were completely routed by the 
enemy, and above six hundred of them massacred. The Danish 
general, encouraged by this success, sent home for an immediate 
supply of men and arms, in order to enlarge his conquests. A 
reinforcement was sent with all possible expedition, under the com- 
mand of Sitrick and the sons of the Danish general, who had obtained 
the victory in Leinster. As soon as the enemy's forces were united, 
the Danes recommenced hostilities with their accustomed violence, 
and the city of Dublin was taken by storm. 

The monarch of Ireland, alarmed at the success of the Danes 
against his capital, and determined to oppose their progress, col- 
lected all the forces he could, to give them battle. Had Nial made 
the necessary delay to muster the choicest troops of the four pro- 
vinces instead of two, though it would have been at the expense of 
more plunder and violence, his resentment in the end would have 
been cheaper to the people ; for the defeat of these foreign enemies 
might have been rendered complete, and the misfortunes of his 
country for many years prevented. But such were the resolution 
and intrepidity of iNTial, and such his impatience to take revenge on 
these implacable enemies, that he marched against them only with 
the northern forces, whose number was greatly inferior to the enemy. 
A bold attack was made by the Irish, who cut to pieces the ranks 
of the Danes ; but as fresh numbers of the enemy continually poured 



455 

ill, the Danes renewed the battle with increased vigour ; the ex- 
hausted natives gave way and a sanguinary pursuit succeeded. Nial 
shared the fate of most of his generals; he fell in tlie field of battle 
with his sword in his hand, bravely fighting in defence of his coun- 
try and wortliy of a better fate, after a reign of only three years. 

Douough, the second, a son of the late king Flan, succeeded to the 
throne, A. D. 919. If we may judge from the inconsiderable figure 
which he made in a reign of five and twenty years, and no better 
criterion can be desired, as the country was then in a most dis- 
tracted state, we must deem him a man of humble abilities, unworthy 
of his descent, and of the exalted situation which he filled. The 
first public occurrence of this reign, which history has handed down 
to us, relates to a short contest about the succession to the throne of 
Munster, on the death of Flaherty, the abbot of Inis-Cathy, whose 
accession thereto we have already mentioned. Kennedy, the son of 
Lorcan, whom Cormac had nominated for his successor, put in his 
claim upon this vacancy, and was supported by a great party. The 
mother, however, of Ceallach, a prince of that house, apprehensive 
that her son should be excluded from his right, as he had no military 
force to espouse his cause, and being a woman of considerable ad- 
dress and spirit, went to Kennedy unattended, and having asserted 
her son's right and expostulated with him about the injustice of his 
design, prevailed upon his rival to relinquish his pretensions. Ceal- 
lach was accordingly proclaimed king of Munster. The Danes now 
made such bold incursions into this province, that Ceallach was 
obliged to have recourse to arms to defend his crown. A battle 
ensued ; in which, and in several others which rapidly succeeded, 
the advantage was on the side of the provincial troops, the wife and 
sister of the Danish general having been taken prisoners in one of 
them. The captive ladies were treated with great politeness at 
Waterford, by the king of Munster; and when they were released, 
the Danes, who had encountered many diflficulties during their de- 
feats, thought proper to abandon this province and look out for 
other settlements. They accordingly joined themselves for the 
present to their countrymen in Dublin and its adjacent territories, 
appointing Sitrick, the general, to be their king. This Danish 
general, is said by historians, to have been the son of the tyrant 
Turgesins, by whose devastations and usurpations, this country had 
suffered so much above eighty years before. Dr. Warner thinks it 
more likely that he was his grandson, and regrets that the old his- 
torians paid such little attention to chronology, for ' though it was 
not impossible, it was highly improbable, he should have been his 
son.' It is certain, however, that the same ferocity, malice and 
deceit, which were practised by Turgesius, were equalled, if not ex- 
ceeded, by Sitrick. The proud heart of this Dane, was sorely net- 
tled on being driven by force of arms from the fertile province of 
Munster, where his countrymen, under his conduct, had made them- 
selves settlements in and near the seaports, and he was therefore 
resolved that what could not be eftected by valour, should be accom- 
plished by treachery. 

Ceallach, the king of Munster, had refused to pay Donough, the 



456 

monarch of Ireland, the usual tax, or chief rent, cUiinied by his 
predecessors as sovereigns of the island, and the homage and sub- 
mission ahvajs made to them as such. His reasons for this refusal 
are not recorded. The monarch, liowever, had the old remedy of 
calling him to an account at the head of his army ; but Ceallach 
had given so many shining proofs of his valour in his engagements 
with the Danes, that the monarch, convinced of his enterprising 
spirit and of his genius, which was far superior to his own, chose 
rather to submit to the affront, than seek redress by arms. Sitrick, 
apprised of this difference between the monarch of Ireland and the 
king of Munster, deemed it expedient for the success of a stratagem, 
which he had devised for the destruction of the latter, to whom his 
recent defeats had been chiefly owing, to communicate it to the 
monarch, without whose approbation it would not be policy to at- 
tempt the execution of it. 

The monarch of Ireland, instead of being startled and shocked at 
the base treachery of Sitrick, when apprised of his perfidious de- 
sign against the king of Munster, not only consented to, but ap- 
plauded the foul conspiracy ; and even promised the villain who 
projected it, his friendship and alliance after its execution. Having 
secured this material point, the artful Dane proceeded immediately 
upon his plan : he sent a messenger to Ceallach, to inform him that 
as he did not intend to renew hostilities against the province of 
Munster, and yet was very desirous to remain in Ireland, he should 
be very happy to enter into a treaty with him offensive and defen- 
sive ; and in order to prove his sincerity in this proposal, and to 
cement the alliance the stronger, he offered him his sister of the 
royal house of Denmark, a lady of great beauty, in marriage, and 
to whom the king was no stranger, as she had been his prisoner in 
Waterford. 

The king of Munster, being himself an honest open hearted man, 
entertained no suspicion of treachery ; so that when the proposals 
were made by the messenger he readily accepted them. The recol- 
lection of the lady's beauty with whom he had often conversed, 
tended to rekindle the flame of love ; and being naturally amorous, 
the dishonour of marrying into the family of the mortal enemy, and 
invader of his country, and of acquiescing in their settlement there, 
appeared under the specious disguise of establishing peace and tran- 
quillity in his province. Thus delighted with, instead of being 
alarmed at the proposal, he required no hostages; he started no 
objections to a treaty which was offered by an inveterate and van- 
quished enemy ; but taking it for granted that the proposals con- 
tained every thing which these savage invaders could do to atone 
for the miseries which they had brought upon his native country, or 
which the Irish ought to desire for their future security, Ceallach 
sent back the Danish messenger, with an assurance of his consent 
to the proposed treaty, and of his intention to repair as soon as 
possible to the court of Sitrick, in order to ratify it by a marriage 
with his sister. 

The noble and expensive preparations for the king's journey and 
marriage, now occupied the whole attention of the province of Man- 



457 

ster. Besides a splendid retinue, and princely equipage, orders 
were given for the guards and the choicest troops of the province to 
be ready to attend him, for the purpose of conducting the queen 
home to his palace, with all that state and magnificence which were 
suitable to the occasion. When Kennedy was informed of the king's 
intention, for whom he had kindly waved his own pretensions to the 
crown, and with whom he had lived always after upon terms of strict 
friendship, he represented to Ceallach the great imprudence of 
taking the flower of the troops as well as guards, and for the sake 
of a little more empty parade, leaving the province defenceless and 
open to any invader. Kennedy, notwithstanding, approved of the 
king's intended marriage, for a suspicion of treachery on the part of 
Sitrick, never entered his mind, no more than it did that of Ceal- 
lach. Indeed the terms of accommodation appeared so advan- 
tageous to the foreigners, without any acquisition to the natives, but 
a wife for one of their kings, who well deserved her, that there was 
no room for suspecting any insidious design. But as the monarch 
of Ireland had been incensed at the king of Munster's refusal of the 
usual homage and tribute, there was some reason for apprehending 
that Donough might seize this opportunity of invading and plunder- 
ing his province, if left unguarded. This, no doubt, was the cause 
of Kennedy's apprehensions, when he advised the king to take only 
a few of his body guards, and some of the young nobility with him, 
offering his own son, a ])rince of the house of Munster, to attend 
him. Ceallach was so sensible of the propriety of Kennedy's ad- 
vice, that he was determined to follow it ; and accordingly, with a 
few of the nobility, with Dunchan, the son of Kennedy, and only 
his body guards, he commenced his journey, committing to Dun- 
chan's father the care of his province during his absence. 

The news of the arrival of the king of Munster, within the envi- 
rons of Dublin, where Sitrick kept his court, having been brought 
to the Danish chief, his wife, who was an Irish lady of great family, 
upbraided her husband for his imprudence and mean spiritedness in 
offering for a wife, so fine a woman as his sister was, to the mortal 
enemy of his country people, by whom so many of the Danish no- 
bility had been destroj'ed. As the lady appeared to take this re- 
ported alliance so much in dudgeon, Sitrick, in order to pacify her, 
candidly assured her that it was only a stratagem to entice the king 
of Munster from his province, that he might effect by deception, 
what he could not achieve by power. Instead of the nuptial plea- 
sures which the king flattered himself he should enjoy with his 
sister, he assured her that Ceallach should be made a sacrifice to 
the ghosts of those renowned Danes whom he had destroyed. 

Though Sitrick's disclosure of his vile purpose, struck the lady 
with horror and astonishment, she had ingenuity enough to conceal 
her emotions, and seem delighted with the cowardly plan. Early, 
however, the next morning she arose, and disguising her person as 
much as possible, quitted Dublin with great privacy, and took the 
road through which she knew the king of Munster must come. As 
soon as Ceallach arrived at the place where she was waiting for 
him, she discovered herself to the king, confessed her husband's 
58 



458 

treacherous design, and advised him to return with precipitation, 
and escape the snare which was laid for him. Having thus unbur- 
dened her mind without bringing her husband into any danger, she 
returned to Sitrick's palace in Dublin in the san)e private manner. 
The anxiety of this lady in thus endeavouring to save the life of the 
king of Munster, and baffle the vile intention of her husband, cannot 
be wondered at, when we consider that she was a native of .Ireland, 
and that she thus exerted herself in favour of a countryman. But 
her apparent aversion to the marriage of that countryman to lier 
husband's sister, is thus accounted for by Dr. Warner, 'she had 
been secretly in love with Ceallach from the time that she was his 
prisoner at Waterford with Sitrick's sister. As little therefore 
could she endure to see him in the possession of another, though 
she was a woman of honour, and could not hope to enjoy him her- 
self, as she could to see him sacrificed to her husband's vengeance.' 
Love is certainly a powerful reason ; but it is probable that this 
woman of honour suspected there was some secret villany in her 
husband's proposal, and that her expostulations on the intended 
marriage were merely dissembled. When a woman's curiosity is 
excited, dissimulation is always at hand, to assist her in gratifying 
it; she knew Sitrick's malicious disposition, and by affecting a disr 
like to the king of Munster, won his confidence. 

The discovery of Sitrick's treachery both mortified and aston- 
ished Ceallach, who turned back with his retinue in order to escape 
the machinations of his enemy. His retreat, however, was unex- 
pectedly impeded by two parties of Danish soldiers, one on each 
side of the road, at a distance not to be discovered, when the king 
of Munster had passed them. Whether Sitrick had any suspicion 
that his secret had transpired, or whether he apprehended that Ceal- 
lach might escape the assassination, when he had him in his power 
at Dublin, that these forces had been thus despatched to cut off his 
retreat, cannot be ascertained. The former is more likely, for it is 
possible that the conduct of his wife, notwithstanding her disguise 
and secrecy, had been observed. Though thus surprised and sur- 
rounded by the Danish soldiers, who attacked the king's body 
guards with great violence, yet, when they had recovered them- 
selves, and had received Ceallach's orders to take vengeance in the 
best manner they could, no time was lost, and no valour was want- 
ing, in making a just and furious resistance. Indeed the Irish 
retaliated with such prowess, that had it not been for continual 
reinforcements, the Danes would have been completely routed : for 
they were so near the city, when the skirmish commenced, that the 
alarm was instantly given, and fresh forces poured in so fast upon 
the Irish, that they could never diminish the number of the enemy, 
though their own was decreasing every moment. The resistance 
of the Irish was, notwithstanding, long and resolute, but their defeat 
was inevitable : and it was the hard fate of the king of Munster, 
and of his friend Dunchan, the son of Kennedy, to be taken prison- 
ers, and led in triumph to Dublin. 

The tyrant no doubt would have been better pleased had they 
increased the number of the slain, as the end of his diabolical pro- 



459 

ject would then have been answered. But when they were delivered 
up to him as prisoners of war, there was no feasible pretence for 
puttinor him to death ; for as Sitrick's wife and sister had been 
treated with profound respect, when they were Ceallach's prisoners, 
he was bound by the laws of honour to be equally kind to his pre- 
sent captives, and he well knew that a flagrant violation of those 
laws would be returned upon himself and his own people. Thus 
perplexed by the desire of vengeance, and the apprehension of 
breaking those punctilious rules observed in all civilized countries, 
he offered tliem such terms of ransom as he was confident would 
not be agreed to ; and, if those were refused, he declared his reso- 
lution of removing them to Armagh in so many days, and of trans- 
porting them from thence to Norway. Ti<e terms of ransom were 
no less than the delivering into his hands the towns of Limerick, 
Cashel, Waterford and Cork, with all the strong garrisons in the 
province of Munster, and an erick, or fine for every officer or sol- 
dier killed by the Mamonians in the battles fought with the Danes 
by Ceallach ; for the performance of which conditions the prince of 
Munster, and all the sons of the princes and chiefs of the province, 
were to be hostages. 

Ceallach, disguising his indignation when he heard those exorbi- 
tant demands, begged permission to despatch one of his own do- 
mestics, who was taken prisoner with him, to Munster, in order to 
know if their liberty could be purchased on those conditions. This 
request was granted by Sitrick, who explained the terras of their 
ransom to the messenger, but the latter had been privately instructed 
by Ceallach, to assure Kennedy, that whatever might be his own 
and Dunchan's fate, he should never allow the Danes any footing 
in his province, that he should assume the government of Munster 
in his absence, send Donough, his general, with the best troops he 
could get together, to Armagh, in order to rescue them out of the 
hands of the Danes, who would soon remove them thither, and to 
order all the ships in the harbour of Munster to Dundaik, where the 
Danish fleet lay, lest the army should not arrive soon enough at 
Armagh. The messenger, no doubt, received these instructions 
from the king previous to his returning an answer to Sitrick's de- 
mand. Be that, however, as it may, the messenger on his ari'ival 
at Munster, absolutely found Kennedy in a condition almost ready 
to execute the king's command. Some of Ceallach's guards, it 
seems, had, in their unexpected rencounter with the Danes, the 
good fortune to escape ; and, on their return home, they made 
known the treachery of Sitrick, the slaughter of their comrades, 
and the captivity of Ceallach and Dunchan. This discovery set the 
whole province in an uproar, and they waited for nothing but the 
word of command to revenge the perfidy of the Danes, and to rescue 
the royal prisoners. Kennedy, who was next in succession to the 
king, readily anticipated their wishes, and the troops were actually 
assembled, when the messenger from Ceallach arrived. 

As soon as the terms which Sitrick had demanded for the ransom 
of the royal prisoners were made known, the resentment of the 
people was considerably aggravated against the Danes, and Ren- 



460 

nedy had no further trouble than this communication to enable him 
to obey the king's injunctions. A thousand of the Dalgais had been 
assembled by his orders about Cashel, and through the activity of 
the general Donough, three thousand of the Eugeneans had been 
collected. These were immediately united, and being put under 
the command of Donough, and the three brothers of Kennedy, they 
prepared for their march towards Armagh. In order to inspire the 
general with zeal and ardour on this occasion, Kennedy addressed 
him with a representation of the nobility of his descent, the magna- 
nimity and heroism of his ancestors, who had been kings of Mun- 
ster, the probability of their success against their perfidious enemies, 
and the advantage to the province, and the glory to himself, which 
would be derived from the enterprise. In their march they were 
joined by several parties of the Dalgais, out of Thomond and other 
places, which, before their departure from the province, made the 
army not less than six thousand strong. 

Ceallach had also sent instructions for all the naval force of Mun- 
ster to be made ready, in order to engage the Danish fleet, which 
were riding in the harbour of Dundalk, for the purpose of transport- 
ing him to Norway. This is the first mention of a naval armament 
in the history of the Irish, though they were situated on an island, 
and had been so often and so long subject to the ravages of the 
Danes, whose invasions could only be effected by sea. Till the 
present occasion the Irish seem to have displayed no military skill 
on board ships, either to defend themselves or to attack an enemy. 
The order now for a naval armament was obeyed with the same 
alacrity and promptitude, which were exhibited in collecting the 
land forces, and the command of the exhibition was given to Failbhe, 
the king of Desmond ; and the fleet, consisting of sixty ships, well 
manned and armed, set sail for the harbour of Dundalk, about the 
same time that the army began its march towards Armagh. Though 
neither cannon nor fire arms were then invented, yet they were at 
par with the enemy, and capable of annoying them with their 
arrows, darts, and javelins in close quarters, and with their swords 
and daggers when they laid each other on board. If the Irish had 
had recourse to this mode of defence before, they might have pre- 
vented the inroads of a Turgesius or a Sitrick : necessity at length 
prompted a measure which had been too long neglected. 

While the army halted at Connaught for the sake of forage and 
provisions, a party of archers, and another party armed with swords 
and targets from Munster, to the number of five hundred each, joined 
the main body, and rendered the forces of Munster a very formida- 
ble army. While they were raising contributions on the country 
for their subsistence, the prince of Connaught, who, at such a crisis, 
should cheerfully have lent his aid against the Danes, deemed his 
people aggrieved and harassed, remonstrated with the general 
against the injustice of plundering those who were not parties in the 
quarrel, and desired that he would order the booty to be restored, 
which the Mamonian soldiers had collected. Had this remonstrance 
and demand been as just as they were unreasonable, it was not in 
the power of Donough to prevent the one or to comply with the 



461 

other. The army was marching against the common enemy of the 
Irish : it was impossible to carry sufficient provision with them ; it 
must be subsisted on its march, and their country people ought to 
have made themselves parties in the quarrel, and to have con- 
tributed voluntarily to their necessities. In order to convince the 
prince of Connaught, that it was merely for the sake of subsistence, 
and not of plunder, that the army distressed the subjects of his 
father, Donough assured him, that if any provisions remained after 
the wants of his men were satisfied, they should be returned. Deem- 
ing the general's non-compliance witii his demand an insult, and 
finding the Mamonian army too powerful for him to meddle with, 
the hot headed prince of Connaught, rather than not take his re- 
venge, absolutely took it at the expense of his own country, and 
even to the advantage of the common enemy, by privately sendino- 
intelligence to the Danes that the Mamonians were on their march 
to attack them, with the determination of liberating their king and 
Dunchan, the son of Kennedy. 

While Silrick was waiting at Armagh, where the royal prisoners 
were, for Kennedy's answer to the proposed terms of ransom, he 
received this secret information from the prince of Connaught. 
Hereupon he ordered the Danish earls, who had the care of the 
prisoners, to march out of the city with all their troops, and give the 
Mamonians battle, whilst he with his guards might secretly remove 
them on board the fleet at Dundalk. Whether Sitrick thought only 
to make a diversion for this purpose, by ordering his forces to give 
battle to the Irish army, and that they might make good their re- 
treat without any considerable loss, or whether he intended to re- 
move the prisoners at ail events, even to the sacrificing of his own 
forces, that were sent to cause this diversion, does not appear, but 
the Irish army was evidently stronger than he suspected. In the 
beginning of tliis sudden action with the Danish earls, Donough was 
informed by some whom he had made prisoners, that the kino- of 
Munster and Dunchan were carried away to Dundalk. This disap- 
pointment so enraged him that he ordered no quarter to be given, 
and few of the enemy escaped the slaughter. Early the next morn- 
ing he marched his army to Dundalk, with the hopes of surprising 
the Danish general and recovering the liberty of his prisoners ; but 
the few Danes who had made their escape, repaired thither, and 
informed Sitrick of the great strength of the Munster army. Now 
convinced that it was impossible for him to oppose the Mamonians, 
by whom the chief of his array was already routed, Sitrick resolved 
to secure his prisoners, and provide for his own safety and that of 
his men, by getting them all, as fast as possible, on board his ships 
which lay in the bay.* 

The army of Munster proceeded to Dundalk with the determina- 

'^ Dundalk, the capital of the county of Louth, the assize town, and a place of 
trade and opulence, is advantageously situated in the recess of a noble bay, on the 
north-eastern coast of Leinster, at the distance of 50 English miles from Dublin 
on the high road running from the metropolis to Newry and Belfast. The vicinity 
of Dundalk is a most fertile country, and ornamented with several rich and beau- 
tiful domains. At a proper time and place we will have to say more of Dundalk. 
Boston, April, 1836. 



462 

tion of surrounding the Danes, and making them prisoners of war, 
or putting them all to the sword : but no sooner had they entered 
the place than they found themselves again disappointed : the enn- 
barkation had been effected ; the royal prisoners carried aboard, 
and the enemy out of reach. While they were crowding along the 
shore, lamenting this misfortune, and considering what was best to 
be done, they perceived a large fleet under a brisk gale of wind 
steering directly towards the Danish vessels, which they soon dis- 
covered to be the fleet from Munster. The Irish army were as 
much delighted at this discovery as the Danes were surprised and 
alarmed. The latter, when they had embarked, thought themselves 
as much out of the reach of the Irish, as if they had been landed in 
their own country. Instead of being thus secure as they thought, 
they found themselves on a sudden in the greatest danger: tiiere 
was no possibility of escaping the Irish fleet, which would be almost 
along side of them before they could weigh anchor and get under 
sail; and if they attempted to disembark they were sure of being 
cut to pieces by the Irish army. In this dilemma they could only 
trust to their valour and dexterity, which was all that they had now 
left to extricate them from their imminent peril. 

Failbhe, the king of Desmond, perceiving the Danes in the utmost 
hurry and confusion at his approach, made all the haste he could to 
begin the attack, consistently with that order and disposition of his 
ships, on which the success of naval engagements in a great mea- 
sure depends. Though the Danes were under a manifest disadvan- 
tage in having scarcely time enough to form into a line of battle, 
yet they were much superior in number, having all their guards, 
and the remainder of their land forces on board ; which, in ships 
without ordnance, njake the principal part of their strength. The 
Irish commander, with great policy, sought out the ship of the Dan- 
ish general, and, after attacking it with considerable impetuosity, 
boarded it sword in hand. He had scarcely been a moment ou 
board before he saw Ceallach bound to the mast. The sight of the 
king in that position, whose liberty was the great cause of the expe- 
dition which he had the command of, so stimulated his zeal and 
valour, that, regardless of prudence, safety or any other considera- 
tion, he made his way to him through blood and slaugnter. As soon 
as he had cut the cords with his sword, which had fasteaed Ceallach 
to the mast, he advised him instantly to repair on board the Irish 
vessel which he had just quitted, and leave him to fight it out with 
the Danish chief Ceallach took his advice, and the Irish com- 
mander remained dealing death and destruction around him : but 
being supported only by the few seamen who assisted in boarding 
the ship, and being surrounded at last by the Danish guards, his 
ardour and intrepidity were insufficient to clear the deck, and, over- 
powered by numbers, the valiant Failbhe fell, covered with wounds. 

Sitrick being convinced that upon the loss of his own ship would 
in all probability follow the loss of all his fleet, exerted his utmost 
skill and valour to save it ; and that he might strike a terror and 
dismay into the Irish, he ordered the head of Failbhe to be cut off 
and exposed to view. This tended, however, to exasperate the 



463 

Irish, and Fingal, who was second in command to Failbhe, when 
informed of his predecessor's fate, called aloud to his men to follow 
him, and, resolving to revenge his death, boarded the Danes with 
an irresistible fury. The contest was hot and sanguinary ; but tiiere 
being so many among the Danes to supply the place of the slain or 
wounded, that the Irish had no prospect of obtaining the victory. 
Sensible as Fingal was of his inability to possess himself of the 
Danish ship, yet he was too valiant an Irishman to think of retreat- 
ing to his own ; especially without his revenge on Sitrick for his 
inhumanity in mangling the corpse of Failbhe. He therefore 
adopted a resolution which is not to be paralleled in any history : 
for, making his way up to Sitrick with his sword against all that 
opposed him, he grasped him close in his arms, and threw himself 
with his enemy into the sea, where they both perished together. 
Two other Irish captains being lired with the magnanimity of Fin- 
gal's action, and being intent on securing the victory to their coun- 
trymen, made their way through the enemy with redoubled fury, 
and boarding the ship in which were Tor and Magnus, the surviving 
brothers of Sitrick, and then the chief commanders of the Danes, 
they rushed violently upon them, caught them up in their arms after 
the example of Fingal, and, jumping overboard with them, shared 
with their adversaries a watery grave. 

Astonished and dismayed at the desperate achievements of the 
Irish, the Danes, who had lost their general and his brothers, as 
well as vast numbers of other officers and men ; began to slacken 
in their exertions, particularly as the royal prisoners were restored 
to liberty. The Irish perceiving the enemy dispirited and giving 
way, pursued their success with increased ardour, and boarded most 
of the Danish ships. They obtained a complete victory, but not 
without prodigious loss. The Danes, besides their numbers, had 
greatly the superiority of skill in naval encounters; and they not 
only fought for their present safety, but for their future establish- 
ment in the island. On the other side the Irish contended for the 
recovery of their king and country out of the hands of perfidious 
usurpers: it was also the first engagement at sea which they ever 
attempted, and notwithstanding the disadvantages of number and 
inexperience, they won the victory, though it was dearly purchased. 
The numerous land forces, which they boasted, were incapable of 
rendering any assistance : they stood on the shore in sight of the 
whole engagement like men distracted; because they could not join 
their countrymen, who were overmatched in skill and numbers, 
and whose defeat they every moment anticipated. But great was 
their joy when their enemies were routed; for a few only of the 
lightest gallies of the Danes escaped to sea : — great was their joy 
when the Irish fleet approached the shore, after a victory so ex- 
traordinary. Nor was Ceallach himself less delighted with his 
deliverance from a constant apprehension of death or slavery, 
through the savage disposition of Sitrick, with whom neither hu- 
manity nor the laws of nations had any weight. The king there- 
fore ordered the most grateful acknowledgments to be made to all 
his forces by sea and land for their fidelity and aftection ; and espe- 



464 

cially to the former, by whose invincible courage he was enabled to 
regain his freedom ; though doubtless had the latter been able to 
have overtaken the enemy the victory would have been purchased at 
a less price. This was indeed the most obstinate an.d bloody battle 
that had been known between the Irish and Danes for many years. 
After giving instructions for the care of the wounded and the prison- 
ers, and providing sufficiently for his fleet, the king of Munster put 
himself once more at the head of his army, in order to return to the 
government of his province. 

But the king of Leinster, envious of the glory which the Mamo- 
nians had acquired, though over the enemies of his country, pre- 
pared to obstruct the passage of the king of Munster through his 
dominions, and to harass him in his march. For this despicable 
purpose lie collected all the forces he could at so short a warning, 
and determined to place them in different ambuscades, that they 
might fall upon Ceallach's army and surprise them when unprepared 
for any attack. Though this base and treacherous plan against his 
countrymen was secretly meditated, he found it difficult to put it 
into execution without a speedy detection. Indeed the gathering of 
his troops together, without any apparent motive, was sufficient to 
cause an alarm ; and in all probability there were some about him, 
who had too much honour — too much love for their country, to en- 
courage such a nefarious proceeding. By some means or other, it 
seems, Ceallach obtained timely notice of the treacherous design ; 
and being just incensed at the king's unnatural conduct, he pro- 
claimed it to his whole army, desiring no quarter to be given to the 
men of Leinster if they engaged in such an unworthy enterprise. 
The king of Munster's severe injunction having been reported by 
some deserters to the king of Leinster, (probably by connivance, if 
not by order,) the latter so much dreaded the resentment of the vic- 
torious Mamonians, who were now prepared for their defence, that 
he thought proper to decline his malignant purpose ; and dismissing 
the forces which he had suddenly assembled, the army of Munster 
prosecuted their march without any molestation. Happily the king 
of Leinster was afraid of executing his cowardly project, which 
would have been productive of much unnecessary bloodshed, and 
have probably rendered Ireland a more permament settlement for 
the Danes. 

The return of Ceallach from his captivity to Munster, was the 
cause of universal exultation among his subjects, whose joy on this 
occasion was a testimony of their great respect for his eminent vir- 
tues. When he had settled himself in his government and allowed 
his forces sufficient recreation after their toils, he resolved on expel- 
ling all the remaining Danes from his kingdom, through whose 
oppression the Irish had suffered so much, and from whose treachery 
he had such a narrow escape. Having therefore collected the whole 
strength of his province, he began with those that inhabited Lime- 
rick and its environs, where he obtained a complete victory; five 
hundred having been put to the sword and all the rest taken prison- 
ers. From hence he marched his army to the county of Cashel, 
where there was a great deal of plunder, defended by five hundred 



465 

Danes : the former he took, the latter he put to the sword. The 
Danish general having heard of this defeat, gave him battle, with 
the hojje of recovering the plunder and revenging the slaughter of 
his countrymen ; but the Mamonians were too powerful for him ; a 
great part of his army was slain, and with much difficulty, he, and 
the remainder, escaped on board their ships and put to sea. Having 
thus rendered his country free from those invaders and secured the 
blessings of peace to his province, he made an alliance with the 
king of the Deasies,* to whom he gave his sister in marriage ; and 
in a short time after descended to his grave to the inexpressible 
grief of all his subjects." 



CHAPTER LXH. 



Prince Mahon is raised to the throne of Munster. — The Danes are overthrown and 
routed in several battles. — Death of the monarch Donough, — is succeeded by Con- 
gall. — Brian Boroihme, the brother of Mahon, becomes King of Munster, and 
bravely revenges his brother's death. — The enmity and envy of Donald, King of 
the Deasies, against Brian. — Donald O'JVcil succeeds Congall as Moiiarch of 
Ireland. — Internal dissensions amongst the Irish Princes. — Donald abdicates the 
throne, to lohich Malachy II. is elevated. — Battle at Tara, — Dublin besieged. — ^ 
peace is ratified with the Danes, who soon, however, violate the terms of it ; — con- 
sequent hostilities. 

After the death of Ceallach, which event, according to the chro- 
nology of O'Halloran, occurred in the year 952, Feargradh, a prince 
of the Eugenean dynasty, was invested with the sovereignty of Mun- 
ster. Immediately after the accession of this prince, the Danes, in 
great force, penetrated into Munster, and succeeded in capturing 
Limerick, and in making themselves masters of all the islands in 
the Shannon. Feargradh raised an army to oppose the Danes, of 
which he gave the command to his brother, Lachtna, king of Tho- 

* The Deasies. Under this name, in ancient times, was designated the prin- 
cipal portion of the county of Waterford, of which the O'Fays, before the arrival 
of the English, were, for many ages, sovereign princes. The designation is de- 
rived from the Decii, a colony that, in the third century, inhabited the southern 
districts of the two Meaths. In the year 278, that people rebelled agaisnt the 
monarch, Cormac Mac Art, in consequence of an affront which their chief had 
received from Prince Kellach, the king's son. Determined on having revenge, 
they forced their way into the royal palace of Tara, and slew, during the absence 
of "Cormac, before the queen's eyes, Prince Kellach. Their revenge being thus 
gratified by the massacre of the unfortunate prince, the Decii, with all their fami- 
lies, fled from the punishment which they knew the king would, had they re- 
mained in the Meaths, have justly inflicted on them. After wandering through 
the country for some time, they, at length, found a settlement, in the county of 
Waterford. The territory of the Deasies, which now comprehends two baronies, 
in the county of Waterford, called " Deasies within, and Deasies without ;" the 
former being bounded on the south and east by the sea, and on the west by the 
river Blackwater, and on the north by the Deasies without the Drum mountains. 
The latter barony is bounded on the south by the Deasies within Drum, on the 
south east by the sea, on the west by Coshmore and Coshbride, on the east by 
upper third and middle third districts, and on the north by the barony of Glan- 
ehiry, all in the county of Waterford. 
59 



466 

raond.* While this prince was on his march towards the Shannon, 
where the Danes were encamped, at Rillaloe, he received tidings of 
his brother's death, which induced him to return to the neighbour- 
hood of Limerick, where he was crowned by the bishop of that see, 
king of Munster, A. D. 953. 

Before the festivities of his coronation, however, were over, he 
was assassinated by two conspirators of the name of O'Flyn, and 
O'Carney ; but by the valour and resolution of Mahon and Brian, 
the murdered king's brothers, the crown was wrested from the hands 
of the bloody conspirators. Mahon was raised to the throne of 
Munster. As soon as he had obtained the sceptre, he and his 
brother Brian, at the head of a large army, attacked the Danes at 
several points, and succeeded in cutting off many of their detach- 
ments, and in capturing several of their strong holds adjoining the 
Shannon. 

We should have mentioned before, that Prince Dunchan, the 
brother of the present king of Munster, who was with Ceallach at 
the battle of Dundalk, was killed in battle, fighting against the 
Danes, in A. D. 952. In the year 957, Congall was killed in battle 
against the combined forces of the Danes, Ultonians and Lagenians. 
His successor in the monarchy of Ireland, was Donald O'Neil, the 
son of Ring Neil Glun-duibh. Scarcely had the sceptre been a year 
in his grasp, when Daniel, the son of the late monarch, at the head of 
an army of Lagenians and Danes, advanced to Tara to dethrone the 
reigning king. Donald, determined to maintain his power, or die, 
rather than relinquish it, gave battle to his enemies at a place called 
by O'Halloran, Cill-?)iona, (or the wood of the bog) in which the son 
of Congall, and his army, were defeated after a brave and bloody 
struggle for life and victory. This engagement took place in A. D. 
958, and in it were slain, Daniel, the pretender to the throne, and 
two of his princely allies, Argal, son of the king of Ulster, and 
O'Carroll, son of the prince of Orgial.t Soon after gaining that 

* Thomond, was the ancient name of the county of Clare. The district owes 
its present appellation to the historical fact of Edward I. having granted that por- 
tion of Ireland, in A. D. 1296, to the sons of the then Duke of Gloucester, Richard 
and Thomas de Clare. Its ancient proprietors were O'Briens, McGees, and Ken- 
nedys, descendants of King Olioll Olum, who reigned, as has been seen in this 
history, in Munster, in the third century. The election of Daniel O'Connell, 
in 1828, as a member of the British Parliament, a year before the passage of the 
Catholic Emancipation Bill, in the Imperial Legislature, will ever reflect honour 
on the spirit and independence of the men of Clare. This county is bounded on 
the east and south by the river Shannon, on the north and west by the county of 
Gal way, and the Atlantic ocean. By a late survey it appears that it contains 
476,213 plantation acres, 79 parishes, nine baronies (namely, Corcomroe, Inchiquin, 
Ibrickan, Moyferta, Clanderlagh, Bunratty, two in the Islands, and Tullagh,) and 
110,000 inhabitants. Ennis is the capital of the county, a fine and prosperous 
town, which stands at the distance of 142 English miles S. W. from Dublin. Bos- 
ton, April, 1836. 

t In a preceding chapter of this history we have stated that the district called 
Orgial, comprehended the present counties of Louth, Armagh and Monaghan. 
The reason it was called Orgial, arose from the fact, that in the year 336, when 
the three champions, the Collas, were granted this territory, they, in their treaty 
with the monarch Muireadhach, stipulated for themselves and their posterity, — 
" that,'' writes O'Halloran, " whenever hostages were demanded from them, if 
shackled, their fetters were to be of pure gold; — hence, Orgial from Or- (gold) 



467 

victory, the monarch invaded Connaught, where he levied large 
contributions, and compelled the king of that province to deliver to 
him hostages of the first rank. Meanwhile, Mahon, king of Mun- 
ster, and his heroic brother Brian, were annoying the Danes by a 
vigorous and harassing desultory warfare. In A. D. 959, the Danes, 
to oppose the triumphant progress of Mahon and Brian, collected 
all the forces which could be spared from the defence of Cork, 
Waterford and Limerick. To Muiris, an experienced general, was 
assigned the command of the Danes. That officer, with a force of 
3,000 of the best Danish troops, advanced to the camp of the Mun- 
ster army at Sulchoid.* Mahon and Brian made a desperate charge 
on their assailants, broke their centre, and threw their right and 
left wings into irreparable disorder. The gallant Brian, to profit 
by their confusion, repeated his attack with redoubled bravery, and 
succeeded in killing 2,000 Danes, including Muiris and his principal 
ofiScers. This signal victory appalled the Danes with consternation. 
The victorious brothers pursued the fugitive Danes to the city of 
Limerick, which they entered pellmell with the enemy, and put the 
garrison to the sword, and set fire to the city. To follow up his 
success, Mahon fitted out a large fleet of sloops at Rillaloe, and 
from the river Shannon made a descent upon Connaught. 

On the banks of Longhree, a lake situated between the counties 
of Roscommon and Longford, and through which the Shannon 
passes, Mahon and Brian encamped. Here Feargal, son of Ruarc, 
king of Connaught, in conjunction with a force of Danes, attacked 
Mahon ; but his assault was repelled, and himself and his army put 
to flight. " Feargal," says Dr. O'Halloran, "in his flight plunged 
into the river, and threw away his shield, which Mahon found, and 
his posterity used it in all succeeding wars with the Connacians. 
The loss of a shield, much more to throw it away, was shameful, 
not only in Ireland, but among the ancient Celiac." The brave 
Mahon and his valiant brother Brian, returned to Munster, where 
they defeated the Danes in several engagements. Mahon's good 
fortune and splendid exploits commanded the admiration of his 
friends, and excited the envy of his princely contemporaries. 
Amongst his most implacable enemies was Maolmuadh, the son of 
Brain, of the Eugenean dynasty, who, with his own adherents joined 
with a considerable force of Danes, marched against Mahon, in the 
hope of defeating and dethroning him. In two engagements fought 
in the county of Limerick, victory, as usual, attended the arms of 
King Mahon. 

The bishop of Cork and his clergy, grieved and pained that two 
Irish princes should be engaged in a civil war, and frittering away 
the power that should be employed against the common enemy, in- 
terposed their inediation for the patriotic purpose of reconciling the 
rival chiefs. Mahon, whose soul was the mansion of religion and 

and gial (or angioll) a hostage." Before the invasion of the English the principal 
proprietors of Louth were the O'Carroll's, — of Monaghan, the McMahons, — and 
of Armagh, the O'Neils and O'Hanlons. 

* Sulchoid (in Irish Sulchath. or the place of the conflict) is situated in the 
vicinity of the city ol' Limerick, and is an extensive plain almost walled round by 
mountains. 



46S 

heroism, agreed to leave the settlement of the existing difference 
betwixt himself and Maolmuadh, to the arbitration of the bishops of 
Cork and Limerick. O'Donovan, chief of Kerry, the ambassador 
of Maolmuadh, appointed a place in the county of Limerick, where 
the competitors should meet to adjust their disputes by the decision 
of the prelates. On the appointed day, the confiding and courageous 
Mahon, attended by only twelve noblemen, repaired to the desig- 
nated place of rendezvous. But as the brave, but unfortunate king 
was approaching the point of destination, the treacherous O'Dono- 
van, at the head of a chosen band of soldiers, rushed from an ambus- 
cade on the prince, killed all his attendants, and seized and mana- 
cled himself, and then carried him off to the camp of Maolmuadh. 
He was thence conveyed to the fortress of Macroom,* in the county 
of Cork, and atrociously murdered. 

-As soon as Brian heard of his brother's cruel death, he became 
inflamed with a desire for revenge, — he marched into Kerry, in the 
spring of the year 966, attacked O'Donovan, whose forces were 
augmented by a large body of Danish mercenaries, overthrew them, 
and killed O'Donovan with his own hand. After this victory, Brian 
was crowned by the archbishop of Cashel, king of the two IVlunsters. 
The usurper Maolmuadh, still kept the field, and assumed the title 
of king of Munster. Brian, resolved to crush his rival, marched to 
his camp with a formidable force, attacked, defeated and slew him. 
In this battle, Prince Murrough, Brian's eldest son, though then but 
thirteen years of age, displayed the manly prowess of a hero. It 
has been even asserted by some of our historians, that it was he that 
killed Maolmuadh. The heroic Brian, having now " no rival near 
the throne," fitted out in the Shannon a large fleet of boats, in which 
he embarked with the flower of his army, and sailed to the island of 
Scattery,t where the Danes were encamped in great force. In 
spite of their opposition he effected a landing, and succeeded in 
storming their camp, and in forcing their shattered remains to fly 

* The market and post town of Macroom, is situated on the river Sullane, in 
the barony of Muskerry, county of Cork, at the distance of 184 Enghsh miles 
from Dubhn, and 18 from the city of Cork, in a western direction. The mail 
coach road from Cork to Killarney, runs through this town. " This place," 
writes Brewer, in his Beauties of Ireland, " is said to take its name from a cele- 
brated crooked oak, which formerly grew here ; — and those who are fond of inves- 
tigating etymologies, will not fail to observe that there are, in the vicinity of the 
town, several vestiges of monuments appearing to have been erected in ages 
during which the oak was an object of religious sanctity. The river Lany unites 
with the Sullane, at a short distance from the town, and the conjoined streams 
shortly afterwards fall into the river Lee. The buildings of this town have ex- 
perienced some improvement in recent years, and there are now several neat and 
good houses. This, however, is a place of but little trade, and it has no staple 
manufacture. The castle of Macroom is boldly situated on an acclivity that over- 
hangs the river Sullane, at the west part of the town, in the vicinity of the Budge. 
It is believed that this fortress was originally built in the reign of John, either by 
the Carews or the Daltons." On the forfeiture, in 1690, of the estates of the Earl 
of Clancarty, King William made a grant of the Earl's lands in this neighbour- 
hood, to the ancestors of the present Lord Bandon, and those of Robert Eyre, Esq., 
who now inhabits the castle. 

t ScATTERY, or I/iis- Cathy, is an island situated in the mouth of the river 
Shannon, between the counties of Clare and Kerry. In addition to the brief de- 
scription of it which we have already given in a preceding chapter of this history, 



469 

from the island. The victorious Brian marched towards Limerick, 
besieo-ed that city, and soon compelled the Danish garrison to sur- 
render. According to Dr. O'Halloran, the Danes of Limerick sur- 
rendered to Brian in the year 970. 

"The great success of the L-ish under Brian, in the southern pro- 
vince," writes McDermott, " had a good effect on their countrymen 
in the north, who resolved to oppose the progress of the Danes in 
Ulster. Accordingly the provincial troops were all assembled under 
the command of Murtough, the son of Neil, the general : the attack 

we would, for the interest of our readers, quote from a work, recently published, 
entitled *' Lajulscape Jllvsirations of Moore's Irish Melodies," the following sketch : 

" luniscattery, or the Island of Scatlery, near the mouth of 

' The spacious Shenan [Shannon] spreading like a sea,' 
has been styled in an Irish MS. called the Book of Balliniote, ' the wonder of Ire- 
land.' And well it may, if we are to credit the legend which Mr. Moore has fol- 
lowed in his version of the dialogue between St. Senanus and the lady who sought 
his holy Isle, in a vessel guided by an angel, 

' Through wintry winds and billows dark,' 
and was inhospitably repelled. This lady, it appears, was no less charming a per- 
son than St. Cannera of Bantry, a celebrated beauty in her day; but Senanus 
adhering literally to the stern doctrine of St. Augustin, that even angels are not to 
be loved, to prevent all chance of such a result, most rudely refused the visit of 
the pious sister. 

Our author here enters minutely into the personal character of the saint, passino- 
over all which, we proceed to the Island of Scattery, where he took up his abode ; 
and here we are informed that — no fewer than eleven churches are recorded to 
have been built upon Inniscattery by its patron saint, who is stated to have died 
there on the 1st of March, 544. The word church, however, thirteen hundred 
years ago, and even some centuries after, had a very different meaning, as applied 
to a building, from the import of the word at present. It was in fact a mere cell, 
hermitage, sanctuary, or even grave, as the name ceil or cill, which corresponds 
with the Latin cella, imports, and which in the form of kil is to be found so fear- 
fully compounded in Irish local names, that perhaps no better motto could be 
found for Holbein's ' Dance of Death,' than Pat's well known speech of 'I've 
been at Kilmany, and I'm going to Kilmore.' 

Connected with the former sanctity of Inniscattery, the most remarkable object 
at present is the Round Tower. We have used the word ' remarkable' advisedly ; 
for this tower is an important landmark in the navigation of the Shannon, and it 
is also probably the most ancient building upon the island. It is said to measure 
one hundred and twenty feet in height, and springs from a base twenty-two feet 
in circumference. Although scathed and rent by lightning, the original roof 
remains. While its fellow pillar-towers, as at Kildare and Cloyne, have been 
compelled to assume embattlements, that of Inniscattery retains its primitive cover- 
ing, and stands proudly crowned with that barrad, or conical cap, which, accord- 
ing to Walker, the national architects and sculptors of Ireland regarded as a dress 
becoming even to angels. 

Although it has been asserted that eleven churches were built upon the island 
by Senanus, the remains of seven churches or cells only are now to be traced ; 
from a glance at which it is evident to the eye of the architectural antiquary, that 
the date of the building of three of these ruins, must have been long subsequent 
to the days of the ungallant saint. ' The cathedral, St. Mary's church, and one 
other,' observes a modern pilgrim to Scattery, ' are in pointed style, but possess 
no particular attraction. The neighbourhood of the latter is used as a burying 
ground, and the interior of the cathedral has been cleared away, and converted by 
the irreverent islanders into a ball-alley. Three more ancient structures, one of 
them called Simon's own, stand to the northwest of the cathedral, the largest of 
which is but twenty-two feet long, and the smallest twelve, and of proportionate 
breadth. Teampul an elrd, i. e. the church on the height, is of similar dimensions, 
and equally unadorned. The light was admitted into each of these Lilliputian 
temples by one or two very small windov/s, little superior to loop-holes, so nar- 
row, that when entirely open, we must be struck with surprise, how the light 
which they admitted could have sufficed.' " 



470 

was made with so much vigour and resolution, and the action con- 
ducted with so much miHtary skill by the Irish general, that the 
Danes were entirely routed, with the loss of eight hundred men and 
three of their chief commanders. These two defeats were produc- 
tive of some happy consequences to the natives : for the Danes, 
having lost their principal officers and the greatest part of their 
forces, became exceedingly humble, apprehensive that the Irish, 
seeing so few of them remaining, might, for the purpose of exter- 
minating their enemies, doom them to destruction, before they had 
procured a fresh supply from Norway. This apprehension induced 
them to cease from all hostility and oppression, and the natives 
began to enjoy a state of freedom and tranquillity, to which they 
had been strangers for some years. It was, however, a temporary 
tranquillity ; for the Danes received a reinforcement which encour- 
aged them to return to their former violence and rapine. The Irish 
had so much experience of the treachery of these people, that, in 
the intervals of peace, they were obliged to be upon their guard, lest 
their security should prove their ruin ; and they soon saw the good 
effects of their vigilance and precaution. At a celebrated fair of 
Roscrea,* at this time, when it was supposed all their attention 
would be engaged, a very formidable body of the Danish army made 
a stolen march in order to surprise them, and carry off all the goods 
and merchandize exhibted on tliat occasion. But the natives were 
prudently provided with arms to defend their property in case it 
should be attacked ; and having received intelligence that the Danes 
were on their march against them, they unanimously quitted the 
fair to meet the enemy : and though they had neither skill nor oppor- 
tunity to draw up in a regular order," yet the Irish, animated with 
the desire of revenge, gallantly resolved to repel their treacherous 
assailants or die in the brave attempt. Thus determined they made 
an overwhelming charge on the Danes which broke their ranks, and 
spread death and dismay through their whole force. Such was the 
success of the Irish in the conflict, that the Danes, before they com- 
menced their flight, left 4,000 of their killed on the field of battle. 
This memorable engagement, in which Irish valour won so much 
glory, and achieved so signal a victory, — although the victors, let it 
be remembered, were composed of merchants, traders and farmers, 
uninured to arms, who were attacked, unexpectedly, at a public fair, 

* Roscrea is a large and populous town, situated in the county of Tipperary, 
at the distance of 75 English miles from Dublin. The description of its magnifi- 
cent round tower, we extract from the first volume of the Jinthologia Hibernica, 
one of the most interesting magazines that was ever published in Ireland. " The 
round tower," says the writer, "is 80 feet high, and 15 in diameter, with two 
steps round it at the bottom. At fifteen feet from the ground is a window with a 
regular arch ; and at an equal height is another window with a pointed arch." 
In A. D. 1213, King John built a castle in Roscrea. Mulrony O'Carroll, styled 
King of Munster, in the year 1490, founded a Franciscan friary here. The town 
is surrounded by a very fertile tract of country. Mr. Seward, the author of 
" Topographia Hibernica," writes of its church thus : — " The church is very old — 
the front consists of a door and two flat niches, on either side, of Saxon architec- 
ture, with a mezzo relievo of the patron saint, much defaced by time. At a little 
distance is a cross, in a circle, with a crucifix on one side, adjoining which is a 
stone carved in various figures, and on each end a mezzo relievo of a saint, which 
is called the shrine of St. Cronan." 



471 

by an army of veteran soldiers, is an eminent instance of what a 
band of heroic men, where united in purpose, and connected by a 
patriotic sympathy, can perform and effect in defending their lives 
and liberties. The people of Connaught, now pressed down by 
Danish tyranny, and groaning in slavery, began, at length, to emu- 
late the spirit and resolution of their fellow countrymen in the south, 
and rousing from the sleep of their inglorious apathy, they mustered 
all their forces, and after a succession of hard-fought battles, they 
finally succeeded in driving the rapacious invaders out of their pro- 
vince. About this juncture, A. D. 945, we are informed by some of 
our historians, that Roderick, prince of Wales, made a descent on 
the south eastern coast of Ireland ; but he and his soldiers were 
compelled by the natives to abandon the country and to seek safety 
in their ships. 

The splendid victories of Brian Boroihme over the Danes, instead 
of gaining for him the admiration of his contemporaiy princes, ex- 
cited, on the contrary, in their breasts, the ungenerous feelings of 
envy and jealousy.* Amongst those who were actuated by this un- 
worthy passion, was Donald, the king of the Deasies, who had the 
temerity to invade Brian's dominions, and to commence there all 
the ravages and devastations with which fire and sword could visit a 
country. Brian, enraged at the invasion of his territories, quickly 
took the field and defeated Donald's forces, among which there was 
a large army of mercenary Danes, and obliged the king of the Dea- 
sies, with the shattered remains of his troops, to commence a dis- 
astrous retreat towards the city of Waterford, to which place they 
were rapidly pursued by the victorious Brian, who came up to thera 
before they had time to enter the gates, attacked them furiously, and 
put the greater part to the sword. The king of the Deasies fell, as 
he should have, amongst the slain. Brian carried off an immense 
quantity of booty from Waterford, where the Danes had collected 
all their spoils and treasures. Brian's popularity and fame now 
ascended to the very zenith of glory, and all the petty princes of 
Ireland feared and hated him. Every day and every act of his 
reign developed the superiority of his martialand legislative talents, 
and proved that he was richly endowed with all the mental and per- 
sonal qualities requisite in the formation of the noblest character of 
a magnanimous and patriotic king. Brave, resolute and accom- 
plished, he seemed to have been, destined by nature, to command in 
battle, and to wield a monarchical sceptre. The higher his reputa- 
tion rose in arms, the more he became endeared to the soldiers and 
people, who were dazzled by the splendour of his exploits, and the 
nobleness of his sentiments. Considering his sphere of action, he 
might, perhaps, be almost ranked, in character, with Cijesar or Na- 
poleon. As a king, a leader, a legislator, a philosopher, on each of 
which spheres his talents shed lustre, he displayed a capacity and a 
rare union of virtues, admirably fitted to give eminence and conse- 
quence to any of these exalted stations. Brian, at the head of the 

* Brian got the surname of Boroihme from the vast number of cows that were 
sent to him in tribute ; because Bo is the plural designation of cows, and roihme, 
in Irish, the soil, which, when compounded, signifies the cows of the soil or earth. 



472 

Dalgais or Dalcas* performed many prodiges of gallantry and 
greatness. Having vanquished all his enemies, he returned to his 
palace to cultivate the arts of peace. With the parental solicitude 
for his people, of a good king, he enacted wise, impartial and just 
laws to govern them. The tribunals of justice were filled with up- 
right, discreet and competent judges, so that the laws were equally 
and impartially administered. t In obedience to his orders, houses 
of hospitality were opened for the entertainment of strangers, and 
the lands originally appropriated to them in the counties of Cavan, 
Monaghan, Louth and Fermanagh, restored. He caused the ruined 
abbeys and churches to be repaired, and extensive and numerous 
colleges to be erected and endowed for the instruction of the youth 
of his kingdom, — in fine, prosperity, beneficence and education were 
the bright and beneficial emanations that flowed from his liberal, 
enlarged and enlightened policy. Besides the improvements which 
he made for the benefit of his subjects, in the civil and judicial in- 
stitutions of the country, and the impelling impulse that his munifi- 
cence and patronage gave to the arts and sciences, he supported the 
grandeur of the royal dignity in a splendid style. The several regal 
palaces of Munster, he caused to be enlarged and beautified with all 
the embellishments and decorations which architecture, painting and 
sculpture could bestow, in order that they might aiford suitable 
accommodations for his own residence, as well as for the becoming 
reception of foreign princes and ambassadors visiting him at his 
courts. In this manner did the good and generous monarch dis- 
tinguish the glory and happiness of his auspicious reign, by making 
his people participate in the blessings and benefits of the peace and 
prosperity of which it was the centre and source. Brian now claimed 
the sovereignty of the two Munsters, and he soon compelled the 
people of both states to swear allegiance and pay tribute to him. 
At this era, 968, the king of Leinster refusing to pay to Brian the 
tribute which he had promised, the king of Munster, in consequence, 
invaded Leinster. The king of Leinster, at the head of a formida- 
ble army of his own subjects and his Danish auxiliaries, advanced 
to the frontiers to oppose the powerful invader. The belligerents, 
on approaching each other, commenced battle. Both parties strug- 
gled bravely for victory ; but Brian's superior generalship, and the 
heroic valour of his army, gained the fortune of the day, and the 

* The Dalgais, so called from being the personal guard of King Cormac Cas, 
(or the beloved) who was king of Munster in the year A. D. 223. Like the im- 
perial guards of Napoleon, their ranks were filled only with gentlemen of valour 
and respectable birth. They were proverbial as the very champions of heroism 
and courage. 

t Dr. Warner, the English Historian of Ireland, in passing a deserved enco- 
mium on the character of Brian, says—" The people were inspired with such a 
spirit of honour, virtue and religion, by the great example of Brian, and by his 
excellent administration, that as a proof of it, we are informed that a young lady 
of great beauty, adorned with jewels and a costly dress, undertook a journey alone 
from one end of the kingdom to the other, with a wand only in her hand, at the 
top of which was a ring of exceeding great value ; — and such an impression had 
the laws and government of this monarch made on the minds of the people, that 
no attempt was made upon her honour, nor was she robbed of her clothes or 
jewels." On this incident Moore has composed one of his finest and most in- 
teresting melodies — entitled " Rich and rare were the gems she wore." 



473 

king of Leinster was put to flight after losing five thousand of his 
best troops in the engagement. The victorious Brian pursued the 
Danes to Dublin, where to evade his vengeance, they shut them- 
selves up in their fortresses. The king of Leinster had not only to 
pay the tribute but to submit to such terms as the conqueror thought 
proper to prescribe. Brian, flushed with victory, and enriched with 
the spoils of conquest, accompanied by his troops, returned in tri- 
umph to his palace at Rincora,* in the county of Clare. 

The extensive conquests of Brian now yielded him an immense 
revenue. Dr. O'Halloran, in his history, enumerates and specifies 
them as follows : — " According to the Leahar no' Ccart, (the Book 
of Rights) Brian's annual revenues, as king of the two Munsters, 
consisted of 66,400 oxen, 8,000 cows, 5,800 sheep, 6,000 hogs, 5,000 
lambs ; the like number of calves ; 5,000 common, 200 green, and 
60 scarlet cloaks ; 520 tons of iron : moreover, the annual revenues 
of Limerick were 365 tons of claret ; of Waterford 400 tons ; and 
the like quantity from Cork ; besides spices, cloths and silks from 
each of these cities." Congall, the monarch of Ireland, envying 
Brian's conquest and glory, conceived such feelings of jealousy and 
enmity against him, that he marched with his army into Munster; 
but he had not proceeded far before he met Brian, who attacked 
him, and reduced him to the necessity of seeking his safety in an 
inglorious flight back to his own territories. " No historical records," 
writes McDermott, " relative to this contest, are in existence ; and 
indeed all other accounts of this reign are very scanty. Some 
mention is made of the great successes of the Danes under the com- 
mand of Godfrey, the son of Sitrick — of their confederacy with the 
Irish in the province of Leinster — of their plundering the churches 
and religious houses, and of their carrying away three thousand 
Irish prisoners, besides gold, silver, and other booty to an immense 
value. Congall having, after being defeated by Brian, marched his 
array to Armagh to put a stop to these depredations, was, after a 
reign of twelve years, slain in a battle with the Danes and their un- 
natural allies, the troops of Leinster, who obtained the victory." 
The Irish throne becoming vacant by the death of Congall, Donald 
O'Neil, a prince of the Heremonian dynasty, was elected to fill it, 
in the year 965. Donald had not long possessed the sceptre before 
he invaded Connaught, to avenge some quarrel which occurred be- 
tween him and the prince o£ that province, previous to his elevation 
to the Irish monarchy, the cause of which is not explained. The 
king of Connaught not being able to oppose a vigorous resistance to 
the monarch, could not prevent the invader from devastating his 
province, or from carrying off vast spoils, and a great number of 
prisoners. 

We will conclude this chapter by quoting from McDermott's 
History of Ireland. 

"The Danes who inhabited Dublin made incursions into the 

* We have searched in vain in several topographies of Ireland, in order, accord- 
ing to our plan of giving " a local habitation" to every place in Ireland, to which 
we may have occasion to allude in this history ; but we could not, in any of them ^ 
find any mention or description of Kincora, in Clare. 

60 



474 

county of Kildare, which they phindered under the command of 
Amelanus, their general. But these foreign enemies were not always 
successful : the Mamonians, under Brian, their king, attacked the 
Danes who inhabited Limerick, defeated them, and set the place on 
fire. The king of Ulster also, provoked with the Lagenians for their 
unnatural confederacy with the common enemy against their coun- 
try, raised a formidable army among his subjects, and having 
marched with it into Leinster, plundered all the province from the 
barrow eastward to the sea. Here he encamped for two months, 
and withstood the united efforts of the Danes and Lagenians to dis- 
lodge and make him retire. 

Notwithstanding the opposition they met with, and the discom- 
fitures which they so often experienced, the Danes still continued 
their ravages in many parts of the island. Donald was at length 
induced to attack those who inhabited the city of Dublin, and their 
unworthy associates, the Lagenians ; which occasioned a most despe- 
rate, sanguinary battle at Rilmainham ;* so great was the slaughter 
on both sides, especially among the chiefs, that the victory is ascribed 
to neither. About the same time, Brian, the patriotic king of Mun- 
ster, engaged the Danes of Inis-Cathy, eight hundred of whom he 
put to the sword, and routed all the rest. 

* KiLMAiNHAM, long famous for being the seat of the Danish and EngHsh gov- 
ernments in Ireland, (it was occupied by the latter until after the completion of 
the Dublin castle) is situated on an eminence encircled in a grove of ancient and 
stately elms, near the left bank of the Liffey. A magnificent priory was founded 
here, in A. D. 1174, for hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem, by Strongbow, earl 
of Pembroke. The royal hospital of Kilmainham was erected by order of Charles 
II. " for such officers and soldiers of his Majesty's array," says the charter, in 
Ireland, as are, or may become, unfit for service, by reason of age, wounds, or 
other infirmities." The merit of si:ggesting the plan of that praiseworthy estab- 
lishment, is attributed to the Earl of Granard ; but the honour of carrying it into 
effect, history assigns to the Duke of Ormond. It was finished in the year 1683, 
after the sum of nearly £24,000 had been expended on its erection. The fabric, 
which is very spacious, resembles in its architectural mass and details, the hos- 
pital of Chelsea. " The structure, writes Brewer, " forms a rectangle 306 feet by 
288, and encloses an area of 210 feet square. Three of the fronts presented to 
view by this form of ground-plan, are composed of brick, and are plain, but regu- 
lar, comprising three stories. The principal front is built of rough stone, and is 
lighted by twelve large circular-headed windows. In the centre of this front is 
the great entrance, ornamented with an angular pediment, supported by four 
Corinthian pilasters. From the central part of the same front arises a clock-turret, 
of two stories, surmounted with an octagonal spire of no great height or beauty." 
The number of in-pensioners in the hospital, or, as they are locally and properly 
designated, " old men," is always 300, who are comfortably lodged and fed. De- 
pendent also on the allowance of the establishment, are about 3,000 out-pensioners, 
each of whom is paid an annual sum proportionate to the term of his service in 
the army. The dining hall is large and lofty, being 100 feet in length and 50 in 
breadth. The walls are covered with portraits of Enghsh sovereigns, and taste- 
fully ornamented with arms and military trophies. Attached to the hospital is a 
spacious chapel which stands on the site of the ancient abbey. The hospital is 
approached from Dublin by a fine military road, at the beginning of which is a 
superb towered gateway which was designed by the late Francis Johnston, Esq., 
in the ancient style of military architecture. The cQurt-house, where the sessions 
for the county are held, and the knights of the shire elected, is a stately and ele- 
gant Ionic structure of much architectural grandeur. The prison, the largest in 
Ireland, resembles a fortress more than a gaol, as it is a rectangular building of 283 
feet by 190, enclosed by a thick and lofty wall. It was here the Danes, for centu- 
ries, held their strongest hold. 



475 

Strange and unnatural as it may seem for a man of a sacred 
function to assist the avowed enemies of his country, and endeavour 
to bring his countrymen under their yoke, yet Cionnath, the pri- 
mate, so far forgot his religion and himself, that he absolutely aided 
the Danes at Dublin, in their hostilities against the Irish.* It is im- 
possible to say what provocations could have induced him to act a 
part so unworthy of his character ; but let them be what they might, 
they could not justify his conduct. The people of Leinster, who 
had suffered considerably through their base confederacy with the 
enemy, now became weary of the vassalage in which they were 
held, and taking advantage of the great slaughter which was made 
of the Danes in the action between them and the monarch of Ire- 
land, refused any longer to be their auxiliaries. The Danes, who 
had been accustomed to great submission from them, were so in- 
censed at this refusal, that with the assistance of Cionnath, they 
made war upon the provincial troops, and the chief of Leinster was 
killed in the engagement. Even though these Danes were of the 
number of those converted to the faith, it could be no excuse for the 
primate. But another extraordinary circumstance occurred at this 
period : soon after his victory over the Danes, Donald, the monarch, 
abdicated his throne, and terminated his days in the convent at Ar- 
magh. That a king should quit his throne, and, in a time of immi- 
nent danger, leave his subjects, whom he was bound to defend 
against their enemies, to put on the habit of a monk, and shut him- 
self up in a convent, is an instance that can only be paralleled by 
that of a primate turning his crosier into a sword in favour of those 
whom he was bound by every tie to oppose. 

On the abdication of Donald, Malachy, the Second, was elected 
monarch of Ireland. This Malachy is by Ware called his son, for 
which there is no authority ; and by Keating he is stated to be the 
son of the monarch Flan, which appears to be another mistake, as 
Flan had at that time been dead above sixty years. Lynch and the 
' Book of Reigns,' also style him the son of Donald, but this is ex- 
plained by O'Flaherty, who accounts for the mistakes of Ware and 
Keating, by informing us that Malachy was the son of another 
Donald, who was the son of Donough, the monarch, and therefore 
the grandson of Flan. It is certain that Malachy, the Second, was 
of the Heremonian line, and during the first years of his reign he 
proved himself worthy of his high descent, by opposing the enemies 
of his country with consummate valour and activity. The battle of 
Tara, which he fought against the Danes of Dublin, and the sons of 
Humphrey, one of the generals whom Brian had taken prisoner, in 

*" Dr. O'Halloran, in alluding to the above related circumstance, says, 
" Keating tells us that the Danes of Dublin, by the aid of Cionnath O'Hartegan, 
primate of Armagh, took Ugaire, prince of Leinster, prisoner; but I have not 
found in the catalogue of archbishops of that see, or of Dublin, and cannot find 
one prelate of such a name in that century ; so if the alleged fact be admitted, he 
must have been some clergyman of inferior rank." We think the opinion of Dr. 
O'Halloran is founded in reason and fact, because no such name as Cionnath, can 
be found in any history, extant, of the Irish bishops. It does not appear in the 
accounts which Archbishop Usher, and Sir James Ware, have given to us of the 
arch prelates of Armagh and Dublin. 



476 

which five thousand were slain, makes a principal figure in the 
annals of his reign. This action was soon succeeded by the siege 
of Dublin. Encouraged by his success at the battle of Tara, the 
monarch of Ireland made an alliance with the king of Ulster, by 
which they agreed to join their forces and attack the city of Dublin ; 
the place of refuge for the Danes, to which they retired upon a de- 
feat, and where they received their supplies from Norway. All the 
necessary preparations for a siege having been made, the allied 
army, which was numerous and well disciplined, appeared before 
the walls. As they were without cannon, bombs, mortar, and the 
other implements which modern times have invented, the siege of a 
fortified city depended a great deal more on courage and activity, 
than on skill and perseverance. Accordingly when the allied army 
were three days entrenched, a general assault was made ; and in 
proportion to the violence of the attack was the slaughter which on 
both sides ensued. The impetuous Irish at length prevailed ; their 
standard was fixed upon the ramparts, and the Danes having made 
way, they entered the city sword in hand. The violence usual on 
those occasions was now restrained ; the conquerors were contented 
with their victory and the plunder which it afibrded, without putting 
the wretched inhabitants to the sword. All the Irish prisoners, 
among whom v/ere the king of Leinster, his children, and several 
hostages of the first rank, who had sufiired a long and severe cap- 
tivity, were immediately liberated, and the principal Danish officers 
confined in their places. The Danes by this conquest were reduced 
to extreme difficulties, and were obliged to submit to whatever con- 
ditions the monarch of Ireland thought fit to impose. No doubt 
these conditions were deemed very hard by the Danes, and proba- 
bly were accepted with a determination of breaking them as soon as 
they had it in their power. These conditions were to quit all their 
conquests from the Shannon to the sea eastwards; to refrain from 
all hostilities and incursions under the penalty of being cut to pieces 
Avithout quarter ; and to submit to the payment of a large tribute. 
The Danes were willing at all events to save their lives, and their 
possession of the city of Dublin, and therefore were ready to agree 
to any terms of peace which Malachy might propose. But as soon 
as they had recovered themselves by abundant supplies of every 
kind from Norway, and deemed themselves upon an equal footing 
of strength with the Irish, they renewed their arbitrary practices, 
and in spite of the treaty which they had agreed to, attempted to 
recover their former settlements and sway in the island. This 
brought on a rencounter between them and the monarch of Ireland, 
in which Malachy defeated two of their champions, whom he at- 
tacked successively, taking from the neck of the first a collar of 
gold, and carrying off" the sword of the other as trophies of his vic- 
tory. 

The Danes, however, were so incensed at the hard conditions 
which the Irish had imposed, that when they received further rein- 
forcements, they exerted themselves with redoubled fury, and the 
natives were in danger of being again reduced to a state of slavery. 
The monarch of Ireland had at this time devoted himself to indo- 



477 

lence and pleasure, so that the welfare of his country was sacrificed 
to his love of ease and luxury. All the provincial kings, except the 
king of Munster, appeared wholly indifterent about the public wel- 
fare. Brian was continually at the head of his brave Mamonians, 
chasing and harassing the enemies of his country from one end of 
tlie island to the other. Malachy, however, was not so addicted to 
a life of ease and pleasure, but that he could indulge a spirit of ani- 
mosity against his countrymen, and carry hostilities into Munster, 
for the sake of gratifying some spleen which he had against the 
tribe of the Dalgais. He seized an opportunity while the king of 
Munster was assisting the province of Connaught with his army 
against the Danes, to make this incursion : but, as soon as Brian 
was informed of it, he marched back with all speed to the rescue of 
his country, which Malachy quitted on his approach, and returned 
to his indolent habits. This animosity was remembered by Brian, 
when the monarch who indulged it, thought it was forgotten. 

The remainder of Malachy's life was so inactive, and the popu- 
larity of Brian was so great on account of his successful exertions 
against the Danes, it is no wonder that the former should lose the 
affections of his people, and the latter acquire all their esteem. A 
striking proof of this was immediately given, for the natives began 
to form the design of deposing Malachy and of conferring the sove- 
reignty on Brian, to whose protection they owed their lives and 
liberties. If the people in general were inclined to transfer the hon- 
our to the king of Munster, there is no doubt but that his own sub- 
jects, who had great cause to love him, would use all their exertions 
to promote it. They saw a fair opportunity of advancing their hero 
to the monarchy of the kingdom ; and they were glad to have it in 
their power to prove their gratitude for his excellent administration. 
But as it might seem to be rather the effect of partiality in thetn, 
than of merit in their king, if the people of this province should 
stand alone in the design of raising him to the monarchy of Ireland, 
they represented to the nobility and gentry of Connaught, the dis- 
tressed state of the island under the government of Malachy; and 
how much more miserable it would have been through the ravao-es 
of the Danes, if Brian Boroihme, their king, had not stood up a 
champion for tlie common cause, and singly with his Mamonians 
opposed the continual encroachments of their enemies : they there- 
fore requested that the chiefs of Connaught would join with them in 
the resolution of deposing the monarch, and setting the king of 
Munster on his throne. The chiefs of the two provinces having 
agreed to the proposition, met in council to deliberate on the man- 
ner in which they should proceed; for as the deposition of a mon- 
arch, any otherwise than in battle, or by assassination, and one by 
banishment, was a thing unknown in Ireland, it required some con- 
sideration to effect it with success and quietness. They at length 
determined to send an embassy to Malachy, and politely request his 
resignation of the crown ; but, in case of refusal, to adopt compul- 
satory measures. They accordingly sent ambassadors of the first 
rank, who, in pursuance of the resolution of the chiefs, signified to 
the monarch, that as he neglected the protection of his subjects, 



478 

and tamely permitted their oppression by the Danes, he was unworthy 
of his exalted situation — that a king of Ireland, who had the happi- 
ness of his country at heart, would never suffer the ravages of those 
rapacious enemies to pass with impunity — that Brian Boroihme, the 
renowned king of Munster, had alone undertaken the cause of Irish 
liberty, and therefore that he alone was deserving of the crown of 
Ireland, who possessed both the inclination and ability to defend it 
with honour to himself and with success to the nation. In short, 
the ambassadors informed Malachy that the chiefs of the two pro- 
vinces whom they represented, were determined to dethrone him ; 
and therefore they hoped, for the sake of public tranquillity, he 
would cheerfully accede to their wishes, and resign the crown with- 
out any apparent reluctance. 

Notwithstanding the monarch of Ireland had been for several 
years past, addicted to a life of ease and dissipation, yet he was 
naturally of a martial disposition, till thoughtless indulgence had 
enervated his enterprising spirit : and it is no wonder that he should 
shake off some of his indolence on being thus addressed — it is no 
wonder that his ardour should revive, and his indignation glow on 
receiving this embassy ; that he should peremptorily refuse to de- 
liver up his crown, and express a bold determination to defend his 
right to the last extremity." 

The import of this message roused him from his inglorious apathy, 
and kindled again the warlike spirit which beamed out so brilliantly 
at the battle of Tara, and the capture of Dublin. Like a Phoenix, 
rising with renewed vigour from the ashes of his indolence and 
effeminacy, he quickly made the necessary preparations for main- 
taining tne inviolability of his ci'own. 

" Hitherto," continues McDermott, " the king of Munster had 
not appeared to have any hand in dethroning Malachy, but seems 
to have waited with expectation that his Mamonians would have 
been able to have placed the crown of Ireland on his head without 
any commotion. Had it been thus accomplished it would not only 
have lessened the envy, and perhaps prevented the opposition of 
other competitors for the monarchy, but it would also have abated 
the odium of Brian's usurpation, who was of the Heberian line, and 
consequently of his infringing that constitution which had been pre- 
served inviolate for many ages. But when on the return of the am- 
bassadors the king of Munster was assured that nothing could be 
expected from Malachy without force, he laid aside all reserve ; and, 
availing himself of the popularity which he had acquired among the 
natives, was determined, with their assistance, to make the crown of 
Ireland his own. He therefore raised a formidable army, not only 
of his own province, but in other parts of the southern half of the 
kingdom, of which he claimed the government ; and even took those 
Danes into his pay whom he had subdued, and who had promised 
homage and subjection to him. When all these forces were assem- 
bled, he put himself at the head of his veteran Dalgais, and marched 
directly to Tara : but before he began any hostilitities, he sent a 
herald to Malachy to demand his resignation of the monarchy — to 
bring hostages of tfie first quality for the security of his obedience, 
and, in case of refusal, to declare war against hirn. 



479 

Though the monarch of Ireland could not have been ignorant of 
the great army which the king of Munster had collected, yet he 
made no preparations whatever to oppose them ; his answer there- 
fore was, that as his army was separated, he was in no condition at 
present to give battle ; but if the king of Munster would suspend 
hostilities for a month, in order to enable him to collect his forces, 
he would then accept the challenge ; or if his subjects refused to 
support him witli their assistance, he would send hostages to Brian 
at the expiration of that period, for his resignation of the crown, 
and for his own obedience to him as the lawful monarch. In the 
mean time Malachy requested, as a favour, that the country of 
Meath might not be plundered, and that the Mamonians might con- 
tinue quiet in their camp at Tara. The king of Munster was too 
generous an enemy not to accept of these conditions ; and his obe- 
dient army, though eager for the action, were restrained without 
any difficulty, from raising contributions on the country. 

It is supposed as the monarch of Ireland had made no prepara- 
tions for his defence, that he was either deceived by false intelli- 
gence of Brian's army, or that he did not suspect it had been raised 
against himself. But neither of these suppositions are probable, 
particularly the latter. Malachy was evidently determined not to 
resign his crown without, at least, the appearance of being com- 
pelled thereto, and he trusted to the conduct of the enemy for the 
chance of still retaining it. Having thus gained time, he despatched 
messengers to the chiefs and nobility of Leath Con, or the northern 
half of the kingdom, soliciting their assistance and advice upon this 
momentous occasion. He sent particularly to the famous Hugh 
O'Neil, a prince of the north Hy-Nials, and chief of the territory of 
Tyrone, of the Heremonian house, to request his proportion of 
troops to succour him in a battle on which his crown depended ; 
and, in case of refusal, to insist on his sending some hostages which 
Malachy might deliver up to Brian as a security for his own obe- 
dience, these being the conditions to which he had been obliged to 
submit for a suspension of hostihties. The same message was sent 
to the king of Ulster and Connaught; and the messengers were 
authorized to say, that if they were unwilling to support him against 
the army of Munster, his resignation of the crown would be no dis- 
honour to himself, but an everlasting opprobrium to them, whose 
ancestors had filled the throne of Ireland for many ages, and who 
refused to assist the lawful monarch in preserving it. 

The chiefs of the northern division, however, refused to obey the 
summons of Malachy, and the kings of Ulster and Connaught also 
negatived his demand. O'Neil sent him word that when the palace 
of Tara was possessed by his great ancestors, they knew how to 
defend and preserve it ; and if Malachy was not able to keep pos- 
session of it, he had better relinquish what he was unworthy of; 
that he had been too regardless of the lives and prosperity of the 
natives, whose blood had been wantonly shed ; whose wives and 
children were starving in the woods ; whose cities, lands and har- 
bours were in the possession of foreign enemies ; whose churches, 
monasteries and chapels were laid in ashes ; and that Brian Bo- 



480 

roihme, like a true patriot and valiant chief, had reduced the com- 
mon enemy, restored the liberty of the subject, and employed his 
time and abilities for the public good. It is no wonder then that 
the affections of the people should be alienated from the monarch of 
Ireland and transferred to the king of Munster, and if this was not 
the case, O'Neil declared that he would not oppose the Mamonians, 
and especially the tribe of the Dalgais, whose virtues he respected, 
and whose friendship he courted. 

When Malachy received O'Neil's answer to his application, he 
dreaded the consequences of his refusal, and was determined, if 
possible, to win him over to his interest. He therefore personally 
addressed O'Neil, and as an argument which he thought would be 
irresistible, he offered to resign to him his right to Tara and its de- 
mesnes, (which had always been appendant to the crown of Ireland) 
and to secure his posterity in the possession of it. Whether it was 
in the monarch's power to dismember so valuable an estate, and the 
ancient palace from the crown, for any longer time than he held the 
sovereignty of the island, and whether any succeeding monarch 
would have thought himself bound by such agreement, may be justly 
doubted, if not denied. O'Neil, however, required time to consider 
on the subject, and to take the opinion of his chiefs upon a matter 
of such importance to his family and to the public. 

When O'Neil assembled his chiefs, and acquainted them with the 
motives of Malachy's journey, and the advantageous offers which 
he made for assistance against Brian, they suspected the integrity 
of the monarch, and that if he had it in his power to make good 
those offers, (for it was a matter of doubt with them) that, should 
he be re-established in his kingdom, he would not be inclined to 
fulfil them. Thus bewildered they at first advised O'Neil to return 
a polite answer, but to refuse taking any part in his contention with 
Brian, as it might be attended with serious consequences. But 
afterwards, as they imagined they might be able to derive some ad- 
vantages for themselves from the distress of Malachy, they proposed 
that if he would deliver up one half of the county of Meath to them- 
selves and their posterity, as well as the lands of Tara to O'Neil 
and his heirs, in consideration of the dangers they must expose 
themselves to in engaging in his defence against the Mamonian 
army, they would immediately prepare themselves for an engage- 
ment. 

These conditions were of course oflered by O'Neil to the monarch 
of Ireland, who, deeming them too exorbitant and severe, rejected 
them with indignation and returned home to his court. In this di- 
lemma, he summoned the nobility of the tribe of Colman, who were 
under his immediate jurisdiction as king of Meath, and representing 
to them the present state of affairs and the insolent demands of 
O'Neil and his chiefs, he requested they would advise him how to 
act, and hoped they would not forsake him at such a critical junc- 
ture. Though the tribe of Colman still retained their loyalty to 
Malachy as their lawful sovereign, yet they had lost all aftection for 
him — though they would not join with Brian, who was a pretender 
to the crown, yet they would not take up arms for a monarch who 



481 

had permitted the enemies of their country to oppress and enslave 
them without an attempt to redress their grievances. Their advice 
to Malachy was, that, as it was not in his power to resist the king 
of Munster's army, he should immediately repair to his camp at 
Tara, make his submission, and get the best terms he could for the 
remainder of his life. Had the monarch remained undisturbed in 
his government, no doubt, this honest tribe would have been truly 
allegiant and tranquil : but as he tottered on his throne, through 
his own indiscretion, they deemed it expedient to express their sen- 
timents with candour and sincerity. 

Though mortified as Malachy must have been when he received 
this advice, yet he found himself under the disagreeable necessity of 
complying with it : and taking with him a guard of twelve hundred 
horse, he went to Brian Boroihme's camp, where he was received 
with all the honour due to his rank. Here Malachy related with 
indignation the treatment which he had met with from Hugh O'Neil 
and his chiefs ; and though being thus abandoned by his allies, he 
was obliged to resign his crown and dignity, yet he honestly owned 
to the king of Munster, that it was absolute necessity, and not any 
v?ant of courage or resolution, which compelled him to abdicate his 
crown. Keating tells us that Brian was so moved by Malachy's 
ingenuous declaration of his misfortunes, that he gave him another 
year to try his friends, and returned with his army to Munster. But 
this, which has not the air of probability, is contradicted, says Mac 
Curtin, by the chief antiquary of Ireland, who wrote the life of Brian 
Boroihme ; and he tells us that he was then proclaimed and crowned 
at Tara, by the unanimous voice of all the chiefs and clergy of the 
southera division of Ireland, and with the consent of Malachy him- 
self" 

Brian now, in virtue of Malachy's abdication, and the election of 
the states, as the acknowledged and rightful king of Ireland, made 
his triumphal entry into Tara, accompanied by all the princes in 
the island, who came to offer their submission to him, as well as by 
all the nobles and bishops, that attended to give eclat and pomp to 
the ceremony of his coronation. 

" After this," says JtlcDermott, " Brian assigned to the deposed 
monarch his old inheritance as king of Meath ; made him a present 
of two hundred and forty horses, besides gold and silver to his reti- 
nue ; and the next year went to Athlone,* and received hostages 
and submission from the kings and chiefs of Connaught and Ulster. 

Thus Malachy, the Second, after a quiet reign of three and twenty 
years, was deposed from the throne of Ireland without any blood- 
shed, or even the least commotion : and the renowned Brian Bo- 
roihme acquired the submission of all the chiefs in the island, and 
was universally acknowledged by all ranks as monarch of Ireland. 

^ Athlone, a town of considerable extent and respectability, is seated on both 
sides of the river Shannon, part in the county of Roscommon, and part in the county 
of Westmeath, at the distance of 75 English miles from Dublin. As it was the 
theatre of several historical occurrences, we must reserve a comprehensive descrip- 
tion of it for a future note. The Shannon is spanned here by a superb bridge of 
several arches. 

61 



482 

* 

If they did not in their hearts approve of the expulsion of Malachj, 
and the interruption of the succession, yet their acquiescence was 
cheerful and without murmur. Such a revolution is extraordinary ; 
particularly at this time in Ireland, where the monarchy was elec- 
tive, and where the contests for the crown were extremely violent." 



CHAPTER LXIIT. 



Eminent Irish loriters of the ninth and tenth centuries. — Brian's success in sup- 
pressing the insurrection of the Irish malcontents, icho icere aided by the Dunes. 
The valour evinced by Murrough, the crown prince. — The Monarch exerts himself 
to improve the intellectual and moral condition of his people. — He auo-ments his 
navy. — Mal-Morda, King of Lcinster, his b r other -in-laio, visits his court. — .4 
quarrel occurs between Prince Murrotigh and his step-uncle, the King of Leinster ; 
its consequences. — The King of Leinster declares tvar against Brian. — Malachy, 
the deposed king, affects friendship for the cause of Brian ; his treacherous and 
hypocritical conduct. — The great battle of Clontarf^ defeat of the Danes, and 
death of the venerable and valiant Brian, and of his heroic son, Prince Murrough. 
Brian s character. 

The wasting wars and destroying devastations of the Danes op- 
posed a detrimental and material obstruction to the progress of edu- 
cation in Ireland, during the ninth and tenth centuries. Hence the 
cause which, in these ages, diminished the lustre of Irish genius, 
and dimmed the glory of that beaming constellation of learned men, 
whose enriched minds raised monuments of literary light during the 
two preceding centuries, in every nation of Europe. Notwithstand- 
ing the barbarities of the Danes, however, great men emerged, in 
that disastrous epoch, from the flood of their despotism. To avoid 
persecution Albin and Clement fled to France, where their exten- 
sive erudition and brilliant eloquence soon procured for them the 
notice and patronage of Charles, the Great. Under the encourage- 
ment of the French monarch, Clement, in the ninth century, founded 
the university of Paris. Albin crossed the Alps, and journeyed to 
Pavia, where he founded an academy. Clement wrote a series of 
epistles on rhetoric, and on the agreement of the Evangelists. Al- 
bin wrote a learned disquisition on Irish and Latin grammar. 
'^Lupoldus Behenbui'gius," says Sir James Ware, " who lived in A. 
D. 1340, makes mention of our Clement. ' The French,^ says he, 
' may compare with the Romans and Athenians by means of Clement, 
an Irishman.'' " Claud, who flourished in the same age, became 
celebrated on the continent for his commentary on the epistles of 
St. Paul. John Erigena, "a man," says Sir James Ware, "of 
searching wit and great eloquence, who, from his infancy, applied 
himself to letters in his own country^" holds a fifth rank among the 
Irish literati. Early in life he made a journey into France, and 
paid a visit to Heric, the abbot of Auxerre, who became so pleased 
with his learning and sanctity, that he gave him a letter of recom- 
mendation to Charles, the Bald, in one passage of which he says, 
as Sir James Ware tells us, — " Why do I speak of Ireland — that 
whole nation almost despising the danger of the sea, resort to our 



483 

coasts with a numerous train of philosophers, of whom the more 
famous abdicating their native soil, account themselves happy under 
your favour, as the servants of the wise Solomon." At the especial 
solicitation of King Alfred, Erigena came to England, where the 
king employed him " for many years in the restoration of learning 
in the university of Oxford." He died at Malmsburg abbey, Eng- 
land, in the year 887. His works in Greek, Latin, Arabic and 
Chaldaic, were extensive, and some of them were extant in the age 
of Honorius. Jn the tenth century King Cormac of Munster, who 
wrote the celebrated psalter of Cashel, flourished, and contemporary 
with him was Probus, the author of a life of St. Patrick, and of a 
commentary on Juvenal. Probus, according to the annals of the 
four masters, died in the year 920. 

Brian's accession to the throne of Ireland took place in the year 
1002, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. After gaining possession 
of the reins of regal power, the pious monarch made a pilgrimage 
to the cathedral of Armagh, where he humbled himself in prayer 
and penance, and laid on the altar an offering of twenty ounces of 
gold. On his return to his palace, which, according to Dr. O'Hal- 
loran, was near Killaloe, in the county of Clare, he received intelli- 
gence that some petty princes were discontented at his elevation to 
the monarchy, in consequence of his not being descended from the 
Heremonian dynasty. Although they had more prudence than to 
raise the standard of revolt, they yet openly expressed their dislike 
and disaifection to the new monarch, and boldly refused to recog- 
nize him as king of Ireland. Brian, ever prompt in his resolutions, 
took instant measures to crush the incipient insurrection in its bud. 
For this purpose, he caused his son, Murrough, at the head of some 
provincial troops, to march into their territories, and bring them to 
obedience. The monarch himself proceeded to the districts of the 
northern malcontents, who, on his approach, submitted, paid him 
tribute, and delivered into his hands hostages as a security for their 
future allegiance. 

While Brian and his son were employed in suppressing the spirit 
of disaffection, the Danes were plotting and conspiring to regain 
their former power in the country. Finding tiiat Brian was far 
distant, they made an incursion on the coast of Ulster, where they 
committed many excesses of rapine and tyranny. Another body of 
these ravagers plundered Cork, and then set fire to the city. A 
third party of them, in conjunction with their old allies, the Lage- 
nians, penetrated into Meath, where tlieir aggressions and devasta- 
tions were enormous. But on their retreat from Meath, Prince 
Murrough fell upon them from an ambuscade, cut the greater part 
of them to pieces, and captured the Danish chief and his son, whom, 
for their cruelty, he doomed to a disgraceful death. 

The monarch, having now crushed all his foreign and internal 
foes, devoted his thoughts to the most effectual means of affording 
all the blessings of peace and prosperity to his people. To secure 
the devotion and loyalty of the nobles, he confirmed them in all their 
possessions and privileges. His next act was to summon a synod of 
the bishops and clergy, in order that the government of every see 



should be restored to the bishop who had been ejected by the Danes, 
if living. He gave the prelates money to expend in the repairs of 
the churches and abbeys which the Danes had mutilated. New col- 
leges were built and richly endowed by the monarch, and filled with 
professors eminent for their mental capabilities.* 

The Danes being a very commercial and marine people who im- 
ported rich and various commodities from foreign countries, Brian, 
to benefit his people, and to afford the princes and nobles costly 
dresses and rare luxuries, permitted them to reside and open their 
warehouses in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Wexford, first 
obtaining from them security for their allegiance, and the payment 
of annual tribute. "In order," says Dr. O'Halloran, "to prevent 
confusion, and to preserve and regulate genealogies, he appointed 
surnames of distinction, assumed from some particular heroic an- 
cestors, to all the several branches of the Milesian race, and to the 
other principal families in the kingdom ; a thing then unknown in 
Ireland ; and, according to the observation of some writers, it was 
not till this time that surnames began to be ascertained in France, 
England and Scotland ; first among persons of distinction, and 
afterwards among the inferior classes." To facilitate inland trade 
and agriculture, he caused bridges to be built over the principal 
rivers in Ireland, and ordered roads to be inade through almost 
every part of the kingdom. Under such a salutary and benign sys- 
tem of government, the country was now enjoying the beneficial 
effects of profound peace, — and the expanded intellect of the mon- 
arch grasped every means that could prolong their happy continu- 
ance. To counteract the designs of the Danes, and resolved to act 
according to the maxim, "a wise prince in the midst of peace should 
be ready for war," and to frustrate any future attempt which they 
might make to disturb the national tranquillity, he kept a standing ar- 
my in the camps, and placed strong garrisons in the raths and fortreses 
which the Danes had lately occupied in all pnrts of the kingdom. 
He forbade by royal ordinance any Dane holding privilege or citi- 
zenship in Ireland, who did not conform in spirit and practice to 
the Roman Catholic religion. " This condition," observes an Irish 
historian, " was so well observed by these foreigners, that they not 
only professed to believe in Christ, and were baptized, but many of 
them became so learned and exemplary as to be consecrated bishops 
of the cities which they inhabited, by the Norman archbishops of 
Canterbury." 

Notwithstanding Brian's grandeur, power and riches, he preferred 
residing in the humble palace of Kincora, where he was born, rather 
than in one of his other marble mansions on which architecture and 

* " In the library of Trinity College, Dublin," says Ware, " there is a manu- 
script history of Ireland, by McGeohegan, translated from an old book which is 
said by the author to be compiled from Columcill O'More, and others that were 
professed Irish chroniclers, which states that ' Brian, observing into what igno- 
rance the kingdom was fallen by the devastations and outrages of the Danes, 
having assembled all the nobility, bishops, and great men at Cashel, he caused all 
their history from the time in which it had been left off, to be recorded in the 
psalter there, which they all signed ; copies of which were sent into every pro- 
vince for the use of each provincial king, and no credit was to be given to any- 
other relations of public affairs, than what were contained in those chronicles.' 



- 485 

sculpture had lavished all their beauties and splendour. " But here," 
says his biographer, "his court, his retinue, and the sumptuous hos- 
pitality of his table, were in all respects becoming the sovereign of 
Ireland. The astonishing quantity of provisions which was annually 
sent in by the other three provinces, besides a constant revenue from 
his own province of Munster, may afford, in some degree, an idea 
of the magnificence and splendour with which his royal dignity was 
supported."* 

For the purpose of rendering his naval power more formidable, 
the monarch ordered three new ships of war to be built in the port 
of Limerick, of the largest dimensions. During this preparation, 
Brian sent messengers to Mal-3Iorda, king of Leinster, whose sister 
he had lately espoused, requesting as a favour, that three of the 
finest and loftiest trees to be found in his kingdom, might be fur- 
nished to him to make masts for the new ships. The king of 
Leinster promptly and cheerfully complied with the solicitation of 
his brother-in-law. Carpenters, appointed by Mal-Morda, surveyed 
the great wood of Shillelagh.i 

When the trees were brought to Ferns, the royal residence, the 
king, in order to enhance the presents, signified his intention of 
accompanying the conveyance of the masts to the court of Brian. 
On coming near Kincora, a hot dispute arose between the tribes 
that were appointed to convey the masts, about the point of prece- 
dency in approaching the monarch, and in presenting to him the 
masts. As soon as Mal-Morda ascertained the cause of the alterca- 
tion, he rode up to them, and not only decided which of the tribes 
should have the honour of first going to the presence of Brian ; but 
in the ardour of his zeal and the warmth of his solicitude, he dis- 
mounted from his steed and assisted his favourite tribe to drag on 
the carriages which bore the masts. While the king was thus toil- 
ing, the golden clasp which fastened the collar of his silk mantle, 
flew off, and was lost. The mantle, which was gorgeously studded 
Avith diamonds of the purest water, was a present which Brian had 
made to him on the day of his marriage with his sister, as a token 
of regard and friendship. After the masts were presented to the 
monarch, and the usual ceremonies had been gone through, and the 
cordial greetings of congratulation and welcome were warmly re- 
ciprocated, the king of Leinster retired to the private apartment of 
his sister, the queen, and informed her of the cause of the loss of 

* " It appears evident from his vast income in money, oxen, wines, cloths, &c., 
that the exchequer revenues of tlie monarch Brian, were equal to those of any 
prince in Europe at this day, (1766) being appropriated only to support the splen- 
dour of the diadem." — O'Halloran. 

t Shillelagh — Once so famous for its extensive forests of gigantic oaks, is the 
name of a fertile barony in the county of Wicklow, the litJle capital of which 
bears the same name, and is distant thirty Irish miles from Dublin. The oak of 
Shillelagh was, from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, deemed by architects 
the best in Europe, in consequence of its elastic and durable qualities. When 
Richard II., in A. D. 1399, rebuilt Westminster Hall, he caused that edifice to be 
roofed with Shillelagh oak, which roof is still, after the lapse of centuries, sound, 
unimpaired and solid. Vast quantities of that wood were exported to the conti- 
nent of Europe. AH the ancient sires of the Titan oaks of Shillelagh, have fallen 
from their lofty height like the sons of Coelus, and few and distant are the now 
dwarfish groves of the once wood-covered Shillelagh. 



486 

the clasp, and begged that she might affix another to his mantle, as 
he wished to wear it at the audience which her husband intended 
to give, on the following day, to princes and ambassadors. The 
queen, a woman of a most exalted spirit, although she loved her 
brother with the siucerest affection of a sister, felt her pride so hum- 
bled, and her resentment so incensed, at the acknowledgment of the 
king of Leinster, that she tauntingly replied to him in these severe 
terms : — " Oh ! my brother, shame be upon you, — your ignoble con- 
duct makes ray blood boil with indignation — it severs my aifection 
for you. Then away ! from ray sight, and know, fallen prince ! that 
it is not for the daughter of a long race of Heremonian raonarchs, 
on whose majesty centuries of glory, greatness and virtue have shed 
their splendid lustre, to array and deck out in the servile livery of 
subjection, the pusillanimous representative of her illustrious ances- 
tors, who would sooner die than bend the knee of homage at the 
footstool of a Heberian conqueror, or offer, like you, the incense of 
flattery, with craven and sycophantic groups of tributary and vassal 
kings. The royal blood of Heremon, which warmed with the fire 
of enthusiastic courage, the bounding hearts of a legion of heroic 
kings, has become frozen, degenerate and corrupt in your veins ;" * 
and then snatching the mantle from his shoulders, she threw it into 
the fire. The king, no wonder, appeared like a man struck by a 
thunderbolt, at this very satirical rebuke from his sister. But though 
justly maddened with rage and resentment at her unkind and un- 
gracious treatment, he yet suppressed his anger, and refrained, at 
that time, from ranking a recriminatory reply. " Probably," says 
an Irish historian, ^^ Mcd-31ordahegnn to be ashamed of himself ; 
the remonstrance of his sister might have awakened his pride, and 
he might have repented of this degeneracy from the spirit of his 
ancestors." The next day, as the king of Leinster was looking upon 
a game of chess, in which Prince Murrough and one of his relatives, 
were engaged, he, no doubt, unfairly and obstrusively, as a stander- 
by, suggested to the prince's opponent a move which caused Mur- 
rough to lose the game. The prince, provoked at the intrusive ad- 
vice of the king of Leinster, sarcastically remarked, — " If your 
majesty had given such good opinion at the battle of Glen-Molaiir, 
(the plentiful valley in the county of Wicklow) the Danes, your 
friends, would not have sufl'ered so signal a defeat." Mal-Morda, ir- 
ritated by the keenness of the retort, spiritedly replied in his kindled 
spirit of resentment — " Sir, if the Danes have been defeated by my 
advice, T am resolved to put them in a way to regain their lost ground, 
and to take their full revenge on you, and the old king, your father." 
" Oh, sir," replied Murrougli, "my father and myself have so often 
conquered foreign enemies, although backed by your majesty's 
forces, that we are quite ready and willing to meet them again, even 
if led on by yourself." "The king of Leinster," writes Cummer- 
ford, "said no more, — but immediately retired to his chamber ; and 
ruminating upon the indignities which he had received in the court 
of Brian, from his queen and eldest son, he refused to appear at 

* The Queen's sarcastic and witliering address to her brother, we have trans- 
lated from '•' 0' Slice's Legends and Narrative of Leinster." 



487 

supper. Apprehensive, however, that Murrough might take an 
alarm at his refusal, and for the purpose of baffling his revenge, and 
preventing him of a chance to seize his person, he rose very early 
on the next morning, and without any ceremony, quitted the mon- 
arch's court, fully bent and determined on speedily gratifying his 
resentment, let the consequences be what they might." As soon as 
the monarch was informed of the strange and abrupt departure of 
the king of Leinster from his palace, he made instant inquiry to 
ascertain the cause of his setting off so unceremoniously, and on 
learning all the particulars, he expressed himself displeased with 
the queen and Prince Murrough. He caused an officer to follow 
the king to invite him to come back to Rincora, for the purpose of 
giving to him an opportunity of bestowing on his brother-in-law the 
rich presents which he had intended for his acceptance. But scarce- 
ly had the officer, on overtaking Mal-Morda near Killaloe, delivered 
the message of Brian, than the indignant king struck him violently 
three times on the head, by one of which blows he fractured liis 
skull. Expostulation or argument could not appease the anger of 
the enraged king. The officer, after his head' had been trepanned 
by a surgeon, made the best of his way back to his royal master, to 
whom he related all that had happened. When the household 
troops heard of the indignity offered to the monarch's messenger, 
they loudly and indignantly exclaimed against the king of Leinster, 
and in the glow of their resentment, which was probably fanned by 
Prince Murrough, entreated of Brian to allow them to pursue, 
and to bring him back a captive, to answer for the unpardonable in- 
sult which he had given. But the prudent monarch, conscious that 
his queen and son were the first aggressors, and that their treatment 
of the king of Leinster was not only rudely insolent, but still more 
aggravated by violating the laws of hospitality, peremptorily refused 
compliance with their request. Mal-Morda, burning with the de- 
sire of revenge, on reaching his palace, instantly summoned a con- 
vention of all the chiefs of Leinster, to whom, as soon as they were 
assembled, he pathetically related in coloured and exaggerated 
terms of accusation, the ignominious insults and indignities with 
which he was assailed at Brian's court. They, led away by the 
combustible feelings, to which the king's touching appeal to their 
pride and patriotism set fire, unanimously resolved to ally themselves 
with the Danes, and to collect such a numerous array as would 
enable them to take ample vengeance on Brian at the very gates of 
his palace, before he could have placed himself in a posture of 
defence. " Thus," writes McDermott, " for a mere trifle, the 
tranquillity of the country was to be again disturbed — for a button, 
we may say, the loss of which had occasioned the bitter invectives 
of a proud woman, who, advocating the dignity of her illustrious 
ancestors, worked up her brother to irascible madness, and endan- 
gered the life and throne of her husband and monarch." Mal- 
Morda's application to the Danish chiefs was soon and gladly ac- 
ceded to, — for his standard was speedily joined, not only by the 
Danes in Ireland, but by fresh detachments of troops that were 
shipped from Denmark and Norway to augment his force. The 



488 

Danes of course rejoiced at the civil war, as they expected its results 
would once more give to them the possession of " a land overflowing 
with milk and honey.'" 

The king of Leinster, perceiving his ranks daily increasing to a 
formidable aggregate, sent heralds to Kincora, to declare war 
against Brian, and to challenge him to a battle in the vicinity of 
Dublin. The monarch, early aware of the great preparations that 
were made by the king of Leinster, put every measure in practice 
that could tend to the subversion of the formidable combination 
which the Lagenians and Danes had organized against the welfare 
and liberties of Ireland. He proclaimed war against Mal-Morda, 
and summoned, as monarch of Ireland, all the tributary princes, 
with their contingents of troops, to his camp. Arrayed under his 
standard soon appeared the heroic Dalgais, the troops of Connaught 
with their several princes at their head, and the forces of Ulster, 
commanded by the brave Sitrick, his nephew, and the army of the 
Deasies, — the whole forming a combined martial mass of strength, 
number and power, from which success and victory might be justly 
anticipated. 

Although the veteran monarch was far advanced in years, having 
now reached the eighty-eighth year of his age, he yet retained the 
mental faculties in their primitive power, and all the vigour and 
spirit of a warrior ; and his ardent patriotism and love of martial 
glory, gave a stimulating impulse to his martial genius, and kindled 
in his heart the animating courage and fire of youth. In the brave- 
ry of Prince Murrough, and in his genius and capacity as a general, 
the whole army had the utmost confidence. Brian led on a well 
appointed and highly disciplined army, in the beginning of April, 
A. D. 1014, to Dublin-, and encamped near the strong Danish for- 
tress of Kilmainham. 

The Danes, dreading the monarch's bravery and generalship, 
could not be induced to come out of their fortresses in Dublin ; but 
Brian, to compel them to give him battle, broke up his camp, and 
made a movement with his whole army, to Clontarf,* near to which 

'' Clontarf, the glorious Marathon of Ireland, a considerable and pretty vil- 
lage, stands on the margin of the bay, about two miles from the city of Dublin. 
With the sea before it, and a domained country behind it, few places in the vicini- 
ty of the metropolis equal it for rural grace and landscape beauty. " On the edge 
of the water," writes Brewer, " are numerous small buildings termed the sheds of 
Clontarf, which appellation they acquired from ths former residence of fishermen, 
who erected here many wooden fabrics for the purpose of drying fish. Neat 
dwellings, used as lodging houses, are now interspersed among the relics of those 
humble sheds ; but the most pleasing parts of this retired and agreeable village, 
are scattered with an unstudied diversity of site, through shaded and rural lanes. 
Several of the buildings, thus widely placed, are villas of some extent and ele- 
gance. Others are cottages cTf a soft and embellished character, and well adapted 
to the occupation of persons who seek, on this tranquil shore, a summer residence 
for the advantage of bathing. The whole district is adorned with sheltering 
woods; and prospects of considerable beauty are obtained at several points of the 
green and devious lanes." A monastery was founded at Clontarf, in A. D. 550, 
and dedicated to St. Congall. In the reign of Henry II. it was converted into a 
preceptory for knights templars. When Henry VIII. suppressed the Irish abbeys, 
he made a grant of it to Sir John Rawson, prior of Kilmainham, whom that mon- 
arch raised to the dignity of Viscount Clontarf In consequence of the Rawsons 
being the warm adherents of Queen Mary, Elizabeth, on her accession, confiscated 



489 

the whole Danish fleet was riding at anchor. This ingenious move- 
ment had the desired effect ; for the Danes becoming alarmed for 
the safety of their fleet, marched with celerity out of the city, and 
advanced towards Brian's camp. A battle now became inevitable. 
Brian arranged his troops with his accustomed skill, precision and 
generalship. He ranked his army in three divisions : — the right 
wing, which took up a position along the west bank of the Liffey as 
far as the site of the present Carlisle bridge and Sackville street, 
Dublin, was composed of the royal guards, the Dalgais, and the 
Meathians, under their King Malachy ; over this division Brian 
placed, as chief commanders, his eldest son, Prince Murrough, and 
his younger sons, Tiege, Donald, Connor and Flan. The centre 
division consisted of the forces of Desmond, of South Munster, and 
a large phalanx of the western Connacians ; the whole of this divi- 
sion, which was ranked where the town of Clontarf now stands, was 
commanded by Kian and Donald, two gallant Eugenian princes, 
relatives of the monarch ; and holding rank as officers under them, 
were O'Donoghue of Killarney, O'Donovan, lord of Hy-Cairbre, 
McCarthy, prince of Desmond, O'Dowling, chief of Hy-Connell, 
O'Reefe of Fermoy, and many other brave and noble youths, whose 
names and exploits are only to be found in their genealogical his- 
tory. In this force was also comprehended the troops of O'Carroll, 
prince of Oriel. The left wing, stationed on the site of Marino,* 
formed of the troops of Connaught and Ulster, was commanded by 
the king of Connaught, by Brian's nephew, the prince of Ulster, 
with his tributary chieftains, the McMahons of Monaghan, the 
O'Reillys of Cavan, the O'Donnells of Donegal, the O'Hanlons of 
Armagh, the McGuinises of Down, and the McLoughlins of Tyrone. 
"We extract from Hardiman's Irish Minstrelsy, an account of the 
array of the forces, and their order of battle at Clontarf, as trans- 
lated from the annals of Innisfallen and Ulster, by Mr. John 
O'Donovan, a profound and erudite Irish antiquarian : " The king 
of Denmark sent his two sons, Carolus-Kanutus and Andreas, at 
the head of twelve thousand men, who landed safely in Dublin, and 
were kindly received and refreshed by 3Ial-Morda. Troops now 
daily poured into the different ports of Leinster, from Sweden, Nor- 
way, Normandy, Britain, the Orkneys, and every other northern 
settlement. The king of Leinster was also indefatigable, not only 
in raising new levies, but in labouring to detach different princes. 

their estates, and bestowed the manor and town of Clontarf on Sir Geotfrey Fen- 
ton, secretary of state, who was designated by Sir Richard Cox, " a moth in the 
garments of all the secretaries of his time." The Protestant church of Clontarf 
stands on the site of St. Congall's monastery. In the vicinity of Clontarf is a 
large charter school. 

* Marino, the magnificent and picturesque residence of the Earl of Charle- 
mont, is situated in the vicinity of Clontarf. The high minded nobleman, and 
incorruptible Irish patriot, the celebrated James, Earl of Charlemont, found the 
site of Marino a wild, in which, it might be said, he opened a paradise of scenic 
beauty and grandeur, under the two aspects of rural charms and architectural 
suraptuousness. " The mansion," says Brewer, " contains many apartments, ar- 
ranged with much classical taste, and enriched with estimable works in painting 
and sculpture. The demesne comprises about one hundred acres, finely wooded, 
and elaborately ornamented." 

62 



490 

from the interests of their country. Never were such efforts made 
by the Danes as upon this occasion : the best men were every where 
pitched upon for this service. Among others, Broder and Anrudh, 
two Norwegian princes, landed, at the head of one thousand choice 
troops covered with coats of mail. These, joining tkeir countrymen 
and the treacherous troops of Leinster, marched to Clontarf, big 
with the hope that they would be able to vanquish Brian before his 
son Donough, who, at the head of a large force, was ravaging Lein- 
ster, could return from his expedition. The Danes formed them- 
selves into three divisions: — -the first consisting of 1,000 northmen, 
encased in coats of mail, and commanded by Carolus and Anrudh. 
Under their orders were the Danes of Dublin, headed by Dolat and 
Conmael. The second division consisted of Lagenians about 9,000 
strong, commanded by their king, Mal-Morda, and under him, by 
several minor princes, such as O'Toole, O'Byrue, and the O'Con- 
nors, chiefs of Ophaly, county of Kildare. The third division was 
formed of the northmen collected from Scotland and the Isle of 
Man. It was commanded by Loder, earl of the Orkneys, and Bro- 
der, admiral of the fleet which had brought the auxiliary northmen 
to Ireland." Brian viewed the opposing ranks without fear or dis- 
may, — he offered them battle on Palm Sunday, A. D. 1014, which 
they declined ; but on Good Friday, the 23d of April, they signified 
by their dispositions, that they were ready for the conflict which 
was to decide the fate of Ireland. Brian felt much grieved that a 
day of such sacredness and sanctity should be devoted to all the 
horrors of mortal strife ; — but fight he must, no other alternative re- 
mained ; the interest of his country and the injunction of honour, 
proclaimed the necessity of the battle. Both armies thus drawn up 
in battle array, presented a most magnificent and imposing appear- 
ance ; their shining armour, glittering spears, and waving banners, 
displayed a grand, gorgeous and splendid spectacle. 

Prior to the fatal signal, at the earliest dawn of sunrise, having 
been given, the good and gallant old monarch, accompanied by his 
son Murrough, and his grandson Turlogh, rode through the ranks 
(his horse was led by his equery) with a crucifix in one hand, and his 
drawn sword in the other. As he passed through the different 
troops, he harangued them with great and impressive force of 
eloquence. He earnestly exhorted them to do their duty, as sol- 
diers. Christians, and Irishmen ; and reminded the Dalgais of their 
many heroic triumphs, under him, in thirty combats. The greater 
part of the army formed a circle around him, when he addressed 
them, in general, thus, as we translate from the annals of Innis- 
fallen : " Be not dismayed, my soldiers, because my son Donough 
is avenging our wrongs in Leinster : he will return victorious, and 
in the spoils of his conquest you shall share. On your valour rest 
the hopes of your country, and on what surer foundation can they 
be built up to reality 1 Oppression now bends you down to ser- 
vility, — will you not burst its chains, and rise to the independence 
of Irish freemen 1 Your cause is one approved of by heaven, — for 
it is a cause that claims a heavenly protection. In this day's battle 
the interposition of that God who can give victory, will be signally 



491 

manifested in your favour, — let every heart, then, be the throne of 
courage and confidence. You know that the Danes are strangers 
to religion and humanity, — they are, therefore, inflamed with the 
desire of violating the fairest daughters of this land of beauty, — and 
of enriching themselves with the spoils of sacrilege and plunder, — 
for the barbarians have impiously fixed, for their struggle to enslave 
us, on the very day on which the Redeemer of the world was cruci- 
fied. Victory they shall not have, — from such brave soldiers as you 
they can never wrest it, for you fight in defence of honour, liberty 
and religion, — in defence of the sacred temples of the Deity, and of 
the sanctuaries, your wives, daughters and sisters. Then consider 
that such a holy cause must be the cause of God, who will deliver 
his enemies into your hands." The whole army received this ad- 
dress with shouts of enthusiastic acclamation. Brian appeared 
greatly afliected, and was proceeding to take his station in the centre 
of his forces, when all the chiefs interposed, and implored him, on 
account of his age and infirmity, to retire to his tent from the field 
of battle, and leave the chief command to the valiant Murrough. 
He reluctantly yielded to their entreaties. No sooner had the old 
and patriotic hero withdrawn, than the Irish army, with a united 
voice, called upon their chiefs to lead them on in the path of glory. 
A sonorous sound of trumpets and the echoing clangour produced 
by the simultaneous striking of thousands of swords on shields, an- 
nounced the coming conflict. The intrepid Dalcassians, (so O'Dono- 
van styles them) ever " eager for the fight," raised the " sun-hurst" * 
standard of Finga], bearing the inscription. Victory or Death ! 
and rushed with their wonted courage and enthusiasm to the charge, 
making death and destruction pave their pathway through the ene- 
my's ranks. The onset was furious and terrible, — it was the heroic 
struggle of national revenge to retaliate on the ruthless despotism of 
foreign barbarians. As soon as the desperate engagement became 
general, the base and ignoble Malachy, to gratify his secret ven- 
geance against Brian, for having, twelve years before, snatched the 
supreme sceptre of Ireland out of his feeble hands, seized upon the 
opportunity thus afforded, of deserting, with his battalions, the posi- 
tion which he had promised to defend, wheeled off" to a hill at some 
distance, where the inglorious traitor remained an idle spectator 
during the conflict. When Prince Murrough, from his post, espied 
the treacherous defection of Malachy and his thousand Meathians, 
he, with great presence of mind, cried out to his courageous Dal- 
gais, "that this was the fortunate moment to cover themselves with 
immortal glory, as they alone should have the unrivalled honour of 
cutting off" the formidable division of the enemy opposed to them." 
Every chief and every regiment of the Irish army vieing with each 
other, evinced a valour and heroism worthy of the cause and fame 
of Ireland. The Danes, it must be confessed, fought with a despe- 
rate resolution that required all the genius and valour of the Irish 
generals to oppose and contravene. Every man stood immoveable 
in his rank until he fell by the sword of his adversary, when his 

* The sun-hurst was the name which Ossian gave to his father's banner, because 
on it was emblazoned a brilliant sun emerging from clouds. 



492 

place was quickly supplied by another ; and every foot of ground 
was obstinately contested. Never, in any martial engagement, was 
there more desperate valour, or more\ raging indignation brought into 
action, than in this sanguinary fight, — it was the terrible battle of 
animosity against animosity, — of furious revenge against furious re- 
venge. The commanders of the contending armies performed prodi- 
gies of heroism. The prolonged contest displayed such an equality 
of bravery and resolution, that victory remained doubtful in the hope 
of each of the rival armies. 

Prince Murrough and his gallant son, Turlogh, fought like invin- 
cible giants, in the conflict : they every where left sanguinary traces 
of their prowess ; the Danish ranks fell before them as forests fall 
before the annihilating lightnings of the thunder tempest. By their 
swords fell the Danish princes, Carolus, Sitrick and Conmael. The 
king of Connaught completely defeated the corps under the king of 
Leinster, who, with three thousand of his best troops, was slain. 
About four o'clock in the afternoon. Prince Murrough, determined 
to conclude the gigantic fight, placed himself at the head of the Dal- 
gais, and then snatching the standard of Fingal, he exclaimed while 
waving it — " before the lapse of one hour this must float either over the 
tents of the Danish camp, or over my dead body J''' The other chiefs 
catching the fire of emulation from the heroism of their valiant 
leader, furiously precipitated themselves on the foe, — no human 
force could resist the appalling power of this overwhelming charge, 
which soon spread consternation, panic and carnage through the 
enemy's legions. The Danes, being thus thrown into confusion, 
and driven to despair by the fall of their principal chiefs, began to 
fly in every direction, pursued to their very ships by the victorious 
Irish, who committed dreadful carnage in their discomfited ranks. 
Murrough's right hand and arm became now so swollen and disabled 
by the violent exertion in wielding his sword, that he could not raise 
them up. 

"A party of Danes, retreating, under Anrudh," writes O'Dono- 
van, " observing that Prince Murrough and the Irish chiefs retired 
from the battle more than twice, and after each return seemed to be 
possessed with double vigour : it was to quench their thirst and 
cool their hands, swelled from the violent use of the sword and battle 
axe, in an adjoining well." As Murrough was returning from this 
well, accompanied by only his standard bearer, fatigued and ex- 
hausted from the great exertion and labour of the day, he was at- 
tacked by Anrudh ; but the prince, although not able to use his right 
arm, giasped the Dane with his left hand, and by applying his shoul- 
der and trip, succeeded in prostrating him on the ground, "where," 
writes O'Halloran, " he shook him out of his coat of mail, and. 
pierced his body with his sword, the pummel of which he fixed 
against his breast, and drove it with the pressure of his body through 
his heart." While the prince, in that situation, was bending over 
his dying foe, the latter snatched from his girdle a short cimetar, 
and plunged it into the abdomen of the heroic Murrough. A few 
moments after, and the Danish chief was no more, but the brave 
Murrough lived until the following morning, when he received all 



493 

the rites and consolations of his religion.* Thus terminated the 
glorious career of Prince Murrough, whose courage and valour, as 
displayed in numerous battles, will entitle him, like another Mar- 
shal Ney, to the appellation of the "■bravest of the brave^f Cor- 
coran, an officer in attendance on the monarch, on seeing the stand- 
ard of Murrough struck, which indicated the death of the prince, 
hastened to his master's tent, and implored him to mount his war 
horse, and make his escape. Brian, rising from his prostration be- 
fore a crucifix, replied with great dignity, " Do you and my other 
attendants take horses and fly to Armagh, and communicate my 
will to the successor of St. Patrick ; but as for me, I came here to 
conquer or tu die, and the enemy shall not boast that I fell by in- 
glorious wounds." Broder, with a battalion of Danes, perceiving 
the monarch's tent unguarded, made a rush towards it. The aged, 
but still heroic Brian, on seeing them enter, seized his sword, and 
with one blow dealt to the first Dane that attempted to seize him, 
he cut off the right and left legs from his knees. Broder then 
struck the venerable king with his battle axe, on the back of his 
head, and fractured it ; but in spite of the stunning wound, Brian, 
with all the lage of a dying warrior, by a fortunate stroke, cut off 
the head of Broder, and killed the third Dane that attacked him, 
and then calmly resigned himself to death. Thus, in the eighty- 
eighth year of his age, and the twelfth of his reign, died the great 
and magnanimous Brian, whose patriotism and valour reached a 
sublime point of perfection. His career, long and splendid, irra- 
diated his country's martial and literary fame with a halo of glory 
that will only die with earthly immortality. This illustrious mon- 
arch commanded in twenty-nine pitched battles against the Danes, 
in all of which he was successful, and shared the glory of vanquish- 
ing them in twenty severe skirmishes. His remains were entombed 
in the abbey of Armagh. The victory of Clontarf was a dear bought 
triumph, for in achieving it the brave monarch, his valiant son Mur- 
rough, with two of his brothers, and his grandson Turlogh, his tliree 
nephews, and many other chieftains, with 7,000 of the Irish troops, 
lost their lives. Mostly all our historians agree in estimating the 
loss of the Danes at 14,000 men, exclusive of their officers. There 
is no relation in our annals, of the fate that befel Brian's queen, the 

* McDermott gives, we know not on what historical authority, quite a differ- 
ent version of the manner of Prince Murrough's death, which we thinii it right to 
submit to the consideration of our readers. He writes — " While Prince Mur- 
rough was riding through the dead and wounded after the enemy, one of the sons 
of the king of Denmark, who knew him, implored his assistance, declaring that 
his wounds were not mortal, and hoping to be indebted to him for his preservation. 
This magnanimous chief, whose sympathy was equal to his courage, immediately 
dismounted, and as he was lifting the wounded Dane up, in order to give him 
succour, the peirfidious wretch stabbed him to the heart." 

t " According to the Munster book of battles," says a learned Irish antiquarian, 
" Prince Murrough was buried in the west end of a chapel in the cemetery at 
Kilmainham. Over his remains was placed a lofty stone cross, of granite, on 
which his name was written. About forty-five years ago the cross fell from its 
pedestal. Under its base were found Danish coins, and a fine sword, supposed to 
be that which the prince u.sed at the battle of Clontarf. This sword is hung up 
in the hall belonging to the apartments of the commander of the forces, where it 
remains a highly interesting, though, hitherto, unnoticed memorial." 



494 

sister of the king of Leinster, whose pride and petulance stirred up 
the disastrous war in which her gallant husband and irritable brother 
perished. 

We conclude our account of the battle of Clontarf, by giving to 
our readers King Malachy's description of it, as translated by 
O'Donovan. "It is," says the king of Meath, "impossible for hu- 
man language to describe that mighty conflict, — an angel from 
heaven only could give a correct idea of the tremendous horrors of 
that day ! We retired to the distance of a fallow field, from the 
gigantic combatants, the high wind of the spring blowing from them 
towards us. And we were no longer than half an hour there, when 
neither of the two armies could discern each other, nor could one 
know his father or brother, even though he were next to him, unless 
he could recognize his voice, or know the spot on which he stood, 
and we were covered all over, both faces, arms, heads, hair and 
clothes, with red drops of blood, borne from them on the wings of 
the wind. And should we attempt to assist them, we could not, for 
our arms were entangled with the locks of their hair which were cut 
off by their swords, and blown towards us by the wind, so that we 
were all the time engaged in disentangling our arms, and in wiping 
away the human blood and horses' foam from our faces. And it 
was wonderful that those who were in the battle could endure such 
horror without becoming distracted. They fought from sunrise 
until the dusk of the eveninff." 



CHAPTER LXIV. 



Dismemherment of the victorious army of Clontarf. — Contests hetioeen the sons of 
Brian and the Eugcnean princes, for the succession to the throne of Miinsler. — 
Treacherous conduct of the King of Ossory to the Dalgais. — Prince Donovgh's 
heroic spirit : the consequence. — Restoration of King Maiachy II. to the monarchy 
of Ireland. — Mahon, the son of Cian, restored to the throne of Desmonds — Quarrel 
hetween Tiegc and Donough : baseness of the Prince of Ely.^ — Maiachy sets fire 
to Dublin, and. reduces the Danes of IVexford. — His government becomes very tin- 
popular : the rebels punislied. — Death of Maiachy. — Disputes about the succession 
of the Irish throne. 

In a {ew days after the victory of Clontarf, the surviving chiefs 
and soldiers that achieved it, agreed to break up their camp, and to 
return to their respective provinces. The Connacians, under the 
command of their chiefs, set out for their own country ; but before 
the army of Munster had departed from the vicinity of Dublin, 
Cian, son of Blaohnadh, chieftain of the O'Mahonies of Cork and 

* The district of Ely-Carrol comprehended in those days of which we are writ- 
ing, the present King's county, — an appellation bestowed upon it, A. D. 1557, in 
honour of Phihp II. of Spain, the husband of Queen Mary of England. Philips- 
town is the capital of the county, — a town that does not present either architectu- 
ral consequence, or commercial importance. The O'Connors, princes of Offaley, 
held their court at Dingan castle, near Philipstown, where the ruins of that feudal 
structure are still to be seen. Pliilipstown is distant 38 Irish miles S. W. from 
Dublin. 



495 

Kerry, sent an embassy to Tiege and Donough, while on their 
march from Dublin, asserting his legal claim to the throne of Munster, 
in right of the will of their common ancestor. Ring Olioll Olum, 
which document provided that the crown should be possessed, in 
alternate succession, in after ages, between the posterity of his son 
Cormoc, and of his grandson Fiacadh. He set forth as another 
title to the throne of Munster, that he was married to their sister 
Sabina. The sons of Brian answered, that as the will of Olioll had 
been often, during preceding centuries, violated, and as their father 
gained the throne of Munster by the prowess of his sword, that they 
were determined to maintain the inheritance which their father be- 
queathed to them — an inheritance belonging to them by two rights — 
the right of blood, and the right of conquest. " When Donough had 
dismissed the messenger," writes McDermott, "with this answer, 
which he perceived the Mamonians were preparing to resent by arms, 
he con^municated to the tribe of Dalgais the extraordinary demand 
which the Eugenean prince had made, and the scorn and indigna- 
tion with which he had treated it. The Dalgassians, who had a 
double tie upon them to revenge his cause, — their right of sovereign- 
ty of the province, won by their own swords, and their adherence to 
the family of their late beloved king — were no sooner informed of 
the pretensions of the Eugeneans, thaa they, one and all, declared 
they would stand by Donough and Tiege to the last extremity ; even 
though the Eugeneans, with their superior numbers, should attack 
them in their present helpless situation. The Eugeneans,* however, 
being resolved to take the advantages they were possessed of, in 
order to vindicate their right, and to settle the succession in the an- 
cient channels, formed themselves in battle array. When Donough 
and Tiege saw the Eugeneans stand to their arms, and ready to fall 
upon them, animated by the loyalty and resolution of their little 
army, and by the remembrance of the celebrated hero from whom 
they descended, they commanded that their wounded men should 
retire to a Danish rath, at a little distance, with a proper guard to 
protect them, whilst they, with the remainder, should engage the 
enemy. The wounded men, however, considering that, by this 
means, their chiefs would be deprived of a third part of their forces, 
which altogether was not half the number of the Eugeneans, and 
being determined to act worthy of the gallant tribe to which they 
belonged, refused their proffered kindness, — filled their wounds with 
green moss that was just at hand, and, calling for their arms, em- 
bodied themselves with their comrades, bravely resolved to share 
their fate. As soon as the Eugeneans perceived the desperate spirit 
of the Dalgassians, and probably finding their own soldiers touched 
with compassion for their brave unhappy countrymen, with whom 
they had always fought before, under one banner, they declined the 
unmanly engagement, and contented themselves with marching 
home by a different route." 

* Euo-eneans are so called by our historians, from their illustrious ancestor, 
Eogan, the Great, king of Munster, the father of Olioll, the common progenitor 
of the dynasties of the Dalgais and Eugeneans. By referring to a preceding 
chapter of this history, it will be seen that Eogan fell in the battle of Maiglena, 
King's county, fought iaetween him and " Con of the hundred battles," A. D. ISl. 



496 

Cian, finding that neither his own forces, nor those of his ally, 
Domhnal, prince of Kerry, was ready to engage with courage or 
zeal in his canse, gave orders to his troops to march to his fortress 
in the county of Cork. Cian, cherishing feelings of revenge and re- 
sentment against his late ally, Domhnal, for not more effectually 
assisting him in his projected attack on the sons of Brian, declared 
war against the Kerry prince, and carried fire and sword into his 
territories. The contending princes came to an engagement in a 
plain, called hy O'Halloran Magh-Guilledhe, near Irrelagh,* in the 
county of Kerry, in which Cian, his two brothers, and three sons, 
were slain, and his army cut to pieces by the forces of Domhnal. 
Several of our ancient historians have panegyrized Cian as one of 
the greatest statesmen and bravest warriors that the house of Heber 
ever produced. 

As the Dalgassians, under the sons of Brian, were proceeding on 
their march to the frontiers of Ossory,t they were met at a place 
called Dimamase,\ by heralds from Fitzpatrick, informing them that 
unless they sent hostages for a security and pledge, that no hostile 
act should be committed by them, nor no contributions levied, while 
passing through his territories, he would, in that case, declare war 
against them, and oppose with all his might, their farther progress 
into his dominions. This menacing message from a prince who had 
been the tributary vassal of their father, exasperated the feelings of 
the sons of Brian to the highest pitch of choleric rage, who, mad- 
dened at its insolent audacity, bade the inessenger return to his 
master, and tell him that they and their devoted Dalgais were deter- 

* Irrelagh, famous for its magnificent abbey ruins, is situated near the town 
of Killarney, county of Kerry. The abbey, now a pile of architectural ruins, was 
erected by Thady McCarthy, A. D. 1440, for minorit monks, under the invoca- 
tion of the Holy Trinity. 

t The ancient name of the Queen's County was Osraigii, or Ossory, of which 
district, prior to the English invasion, the Mac-Giola-Phadruigs, (or Fitzpatricks) 
and the O'Mores, princes of Leix, were the chief toparchs. " The district origi- 
nally extended," says Seward, " through the whole country, between the rivers 
Nore and Suir." 

X DuNAMASE, which in Irish signifies the fort of the plain, is situated about four 
miles from Maryborough, the capital of the Queen's county. This place is com- 
memorated in Irish and English history as the scene of many bold and bloody 
exploits. In the beginning of the third century, Lugha-Leagha, brother to Olioll, 
king of Munster, erected a strong fortress on the rock of Dunamase. On the 
arrival of the English, this strong hold was garrisoned by the troops of their de- 
voted ally, but the betrayer of his country, Derraod, king of Leinster. When 
Marshael, the earl of Pembroke, married (A. D. 1216) Isabel, only daughter of 
Strongbow, by the princess of Leinster, and thereby became possessed of Duna- 
mase, he built a large and magnificent castle on the summit of the -lofty rock. 
This towering and precipitous rock that was quite inaccessible on all sides except 
the east, which point was fortified by a barbican, was surrounded by a broad and 
high fosse faced with a ballium whose walls were six feet thick. Brewer, in de- 
scribing it writes thus: — "This rude castrametation of the Celtic chieftains, 
frowned contempt on the world below with the same natural and defying security 
as does the nest of the eagle, except the scath of heaven." Owen Roe O'Neil 
captured the castle of Dunamase from the Parliamentarians, — but in A. D. 1650, 
it was retaken by Colonels Huson and Reynolds, two of Cromwell's officers, who 
blew it up. The rock stands in the midst of a large plain, called the Great-hcat/i, 
and forms a fine feature of the picturesque antiqve, in the domain of Sir John 
Parnell, to whom it and the adjoining lands now belong. In a note in the second 
volume of this history, we will say more of Dunamase. 



497 

mined to force a passage through Ossoiy, or perish in the attempt. 
" Inform the pusillanimous chief," said they, " that we should deem 
it one of the greatest misfortunes of our whole lives, to be thus ex- 
posed to the insults of a base and insignificant chief, who had, in a 
cowardly manner, declared war against us, when he knew that our 
army was reduced, and that we had but a little more than a tenth 
part of the forces with which he was preparing to oppose our march ; 
yet tell the ignoble chieftain that the sons of Brian are not afraid to 
meet him in the field of battle, where our courage and valour will 
make up for the great disparity of our numbers, and prove that the 
Dalgais are still invincible." Donough and Tiege, perceiving the 
Ossorians advancing towards them, made the necessary dispositions 
of their little gallant band to receive and resist the enemy's attack. 
Donough and Tiege, before issuing the signal for the charge, en- 
treated of the wounded men, consisting of a battalion of 800, to 
retire to an adjoining hill, and remain there during the struggle ; 
but no sooner did the sick and wounded Dalgais hear the command 
of their princes, than they unanimously declared that they would 
rather die, like brave men, in the field of battle, than be led as 
chained captives to the fortress of the king of Ossory ; they, there- 
fore, earnestly supplicated their chiefs to allow them to share the 
same fate with their fellow soldiers. They further suggested to the 
princes that they should shew, on an occasion being afforded to 
them, that they would be able to render some effective aid in repel- 
ling the foe. " Let you, brave princes," said they, " cause a suffi- 
cient number of stakes to be cut down in yonder wood, and driven 
into the battle ground, between every two of us, to which let us be 
tied in such a manner as to leave our hands and arms at liberty to 
wield our weapons." The princes, moved to admiration at the 
magnanimous request, reluctantly complied with it.* These men, 
whose illustrious heroism is not, perhaps, to be paralleled in history, 
were stationed on the field in the manner they had described. When 
the advanced guards of the Ossorian army, while rushing to the 
attack, beheld the battle array and desperate resolution of the Dal- 
gais, who were thus ready to devote themselves to destruction, they 
suddenly halted, and absolutely refused to follow up the charge. 
Such was the force of compassion and admiration with which the 
valiant conduct of the Dalgais inspired them, that all the eloquent 
appeals and powerful persuasions used by the king of Ossory, to 
impel his troops on in the attack, proved ineffectual and abortive, — 
so that he was constrained to retreat, unrevenged, into the fortress 

* Our matchless poet-patriot, in one of his Irish melodies, entitled " Remember the 
glories of Brian the Brave," alludes, in the following stanza, to the martial great- 
ness of soul, and chivalric heroism displayed by the Dalgais on this occasion, at 
Dunamase . 

" Forget not our wounded companions who stood 

In the day of distress by our side; 
While the moss of the valley grew red with their blood. 

They stirr'd not, but conquer'd and died ! 
The sun that now blesses our arms with his light, 

Saw them fall upon Ossory's plain ! 
Oh ! let him not blush, when he leaves us to-night, 
To find that they fell there in vain !" 
63 



498 

of Dunamase. After the princes had passed the fortress of Fitz- 
patrick, on their march homewards, that httle minded prince sallied 
out of his citadel to pursue and harass their rear guards. 

In a few weeks after the battle of Clontarf, in May, A. D. 1014, 
the national estates assembled at Ratoath,* and decreed the restora- 
tion of Malachy to the Irish throne. An Irish historian, in reference 
to this election says, "Malachy, indeed, does not appear, from any 
thing that has been related, to have been entitled to a restoration to 
the monarchy : his cruel and unmanly neutrality when he acted as 
pretended auxiliary to Brian's army, might have been the cause of 
the heroic veteran's death ; for had he done his duty with the forces 
which he had brought to the field, the Danes might have been, in 
that case, cut to pieces before they had committed the foul assassi- 
nation of the gallant and venerable king !" Shortly after the resto- 
ration of Malachy, on the arrival of Tiege and Donough in their 
own country, their nephew, Mahon, son of Cian, claimed their as- 
sistance to recover from Domhnal the throne of Desmond. In con- 
formity to Mahon's request, they marched at the head of a large 
army, into the territory of Domhnal, attacked and defeated his forces, 
killed his son, Cathal, in battle, and ^compelled him to yield up the 
kingdom of Desmond to their nephew, and place in their hands 
hostages. At this juncture, A. D. 1016, a violent dispute arose be- 
tween the brothers, Tiege and Donough, about the succession to the 
throne of Munster. 

The rival brothers raised an army and fiercely encountered each 
other in battle, near Ennis, in the county of Clare,— but after a 
whole day's conflict neither party could claim a victory. During 
tliis unhappy difference, Domhnal made a sudden incursion into 
Carberry, county of Cork, laid the country waste by his devastations, 
and slew young Mahon by his own hand. By the remonstrance of 
the clergy, Tiege and Donough were reconciled, and entered into a 
treaty of peace and amity, and combined their respective forces to 
repel Domhnal, their inveterate enemy, who was on his march to 
invade their hereditary dominions. They attacked him near Lime- 
rick, and succeeded not only in defeating his army, but in killing 
himself and his principal officers. While these intestine broils were 
dividing the Irish princes, and frittering away the strength which 
should be employed against the common enemy, the Danes were 
secretly accumulating a military force, with which they soon as- 
saulted and took possession of Dublin and Wexford. Malachy, on 
being informed of the rebellion of the Danes, mustered all his troops, 
and marched to Dublin for the purpose of reducing them to subjec- 
tion. The Danes refusing to surrender Dublin, on the summons of 
the monarch, he, in consequence, caused the walls to be scaled, and 
the city set on fire, and by that means compelled the Danes to sub- 
mit to such terms as he thought proper to dictate. " Immediately 
after Malachy had burned the city of Dublin," writes a historian of 

* Ratoath, once a place of consequence as the residence of three or four of 
the Irish raonarchs, and the site of a spacious abbey now reduced to a heap of 
mouldering ruins, is situated in the county of Meath, at the distance of thirteen 
Irish miles from Dublin. The country which encircles this little town is rich in 
beautiful and picturesque scenery. Boston, May, 1836. 



499 

Ireland, "he marched into Wexford, and upon what provocation, 
yet remains unknown, destroyed that territory with fire and sword 
in a most dreadful manner. These people were inhabitants of the 
province of Leinster; and though they did not first propose the ex- 
pulsion of Malachy from the throne, yet, as they did not rise in his 
defence, this indifference, perhaps, excited him to take this bitter 
revenge." At this epoch, A. D. 1020, Donough and Tiege again 
quarrelled and came to an open and violent rupture about the crown 
of Munster, which Brian, before his death, had bequeathed to the 
latter, who fought gallantly at the battle of Clontarf. 

Donough, ambitious of wearing a crown, shut his heart against 
fraternal afl^ection, and severed the holy ties of nature by conspiring 
and concerting with O'CarrolI, toparch of Ely, in the diabolical and 
treacherous design of putting his brother Tiege, secretly, to death. 
The base and wicked plan which they adopted for the unsuspecting 
prince's death, was, that O'CarrolI should inveigle him into his dis- 
trict, under the pretence that the atrocious assassin wished to hon- 
our Tiege with hospitality at his court. The iniquitous feint of the 
sanguinary conspirators succeeded, and the devoted Tiege had 
scarcely entered Ely when he was assassinated. Donough and 
O'CarrolI, to screen themselves from the imputation of being impli- 
cated in the barbarous deed, caused reports to be circulated far and 
wide, that Tiege was murdered by robbers in the bog of Clonearl* 
in the Kings county. As degrading wages for the execrable act, 
Donough rewarded O'CarrolI with rich presents, and made his 
county a palatinate, exempt from tribute. While these events were 
passing in Munster and Ely, the monarch, Malachy, to avenge 
some real or imaginary offence, invaded Ulster, and devastated and 
ravaged the country from Newry to Nevvtownards,t in the county 
of Down, and carried off much spoils and many captives. Division 
and discord prevailed once more over the friendship and harmony 

* Clonearl, situated at the distance of two miles from Philipstown, King's 
county, presents a wild tract of marshy bog-ground ; but wliich is now studded 
with numerous cabins full of inhabitants, in consequence of the abundance of fuel 
which it yields without much labour or expense. The bleak and bare aspect of 
the gloomy landscape is, however, relieved and animated by the elegant mansion 
and embellished demesne of William Magan, Esq., at Croghan-hill, — a pros- 
pect commanding eminence which rises, as it were, over the boggy lowlands, like 
the genius of cultivation, seemingly spuming away the frowning demon of the 
wild. In the days of Spenser this beautiful and lofty height must have had land- 
scape charms, as he has poetically celebrated it in his Fairy Queen. 

t Newtownards, a fine and flourishing town, is situated on the northwest 
point of Strangford lough, the largest salt water lake in Ireland, being twenty-one 
miles in length, and seven in breadth, at the distance of ten miles from Belfast. 
The town contains many respectable houses, and its inhabitants are remarkable 
for their industry, intelligence and liberality. The suburbs of the town are pictu- 
resque, pretty, handsome and diversified, — Strangford lough, with its numerous 
green isles, and the extensive and beautiful demesne of Mount Stewart, the coun- 
try residence of the Marquis of Londonderry, serve to enliven the landscape with 
contrast of scene, variety of features, and rurality of appearance. The principal 
edificial ornaments of Newtownards, are the Protestant church and the market 
house. The mansion of Newtown-Stewart has no claim to architectural taste, — 
it is a plain and ponderous pile, built in that graceless style of architecture which 
prevailed in Ireland during the Gothic reigns of William and Anne. The abbey, 
now an interesting heap of ruins, was erected in A. D. 1244, for Dominican 
monks, by Waiter de Bourg, earl of Ulster. 



500 

of some of the Irish princes. The king of Ossory invaded the south 
of Leinster, and carried the terror of fire and sword to the town of 
Leighlin, county of Carlow, where he entered by night, and not 
only sacked the town, but forced the palace, and put the king of 
Leinster and all his nobles and courtiers to the sword. The Lein- 
sterians, enraged and maddened, sent messengers to Malachy, in- 
forming him of the atrocious aggression and violent outrage of the 
prince of Ossory, and imploring from him, as monarch of Ireland, 
redress and protection. 

In accordance with their request, Malachy, no doubt glad of the 
opportunity of invading the territories of Ossory, speedily marched 
with his army to the assistance of the oppressed people of Leinster. 
Uniting his forces with theirs, he rapidly penetrated into Ossory, 
laying waste in his devastating march the whole country, and com- 
mitting every licentious excess that could be practiced by a remorse- 
less and despotic conqueror. The king of Ossory, after a long 
retreat before the superior army of the ruthless invader, at length 
determined rather to die in the field of honour, than become the 
chained captive of the monarch, made a stand, and awaited the 
attack of the invaders at Stradbally,* in the Queen's county, where, 
after a gallant struggle, he fell with his chief oflnieers and the prin- 
cipal part of his army. The Danes again taking advantage of the 
unhappy commotions and dissensions that prevailed amongst the 
Irish princes, privately mustered a little army commanded by Sitrick, 
with which they made an incursion into the county of Wexford, A. 
D. 1020, and after plundering several abbeys, they succeeded in 
capturing the royal palace of Leinster at Ferns, where they put 
Brian, the son of Maolmorda, the king, and several of his officers 
to death by the sword. But Ugair, the crown prince of Leinster, 
eldest son of Brian, having fortunately escaped from the Danes, 
raised a large army, and attacked the Danes so successfully that 
their entire forces were annihilated : and such was the decisiveness 
of their signal defeat, that after that battle they were never again 
able to offer any opposition to the Irish. " Thus," writes an Irish 
historian, " was the Danish interest, which had cost so much blood, 
finally extinguished in this island. This meritorious action did not, 
however, secure the brave victor-king of Leinster from the malice 
and animosity of one of his family, by whom his house at Ferns, in 
the county of Wexford, was treacherously set on fire, and the heroic 
prince himself perished in the flames !" Malachy, after returning 

* Stradbally, a beautiful and brisk little town, is pleasantly situated in a 
valley on a branch of the river Barrow, called the Str a id, which is crossed by a 
fine bridge of three arches, in the eastern part of the Queen's county, at the dis- 
tance of five miles S. E. from Maryborough. The streets are wide, showy, and 
well paved ; and before the houses, on either side, is a row of majestic elm trees 
which diffuse a pleasing air of rurality over the aspect of the town. It is sur- 
rounded by wood-wreathed hills, and highly cultivated domains. — among the latter 
of which are those of Stradbally hall, the seat of the Cosby family, the proprietors 
of the soil, and Brockley park, formerly belonging to the Earl of Roden, whose 
seat is now at Dundalk, in the county of Louth. A large and magnificent monas- 
tery was erected in Stradbally, in the twelfth century, by one of the O'Mores, 
princes of Leix, who occupied a strong castle here, which stood on the very site 
now rearing the modern structure of Stradbally hall. Boston, May, 183G. 



501 

to his palace in Meath, from the conquest of Ossory, in A. D. 1021, 
began to devote his thoughts and cares to the pious duties of re- 
ligion, in which he was assisted by the spiritual administration of 
Amalgaid, the then archbishop of Armagh. The monarch arrived 
at the venerable age of seventy-three years, and died on the 2d of 
September, in the year 1022. 

If his unpatriotic conduct at the battle of Clontarf had not at- 
tached an indelible stigma to his character, which " all great Nep- 
tune's ocean," can never wash off, Malachy's bravery iu the field, 
signalized on many occasions, and his legislative wisdom in senate 
and council, would have been entitled to the most laudatory com- 
mendation that an eloquent historian of his country could bestow 
on his memory. During his second reign, which lasted more than 
eight years, he endowed and erected several abbeys and colleges ; 
extended patronage to literature and the arts, and evinced a dispo- 
sition to promote tbe prosperity of his people. " By these means," 
says McDermott, " he acquired the character of a sovereign of ex- 
emplary goodness and devotion, though, on many occasions, he had 
displayed much treachery and cruelty." Shortly after Tiege's 
death, through, as we have shown, the monstrous contrivance of his 
brother Donough and the prince of Ely, suspicion that Donough 
was the barbarous perpetrator of the foul and horrid deed, gained 
every day an ascendency in the public mind, which was considerably 
increased by the sudden flight of Turlogh, the son of Tiege, from 
his paternal uncle's court to that of his maternal uncle, O'Molloy, 
at Fearcal, in the King's county. Immediately after the death of 
Malachy, several candidates started in competition for the throne of 
Ireland ; amongst them Donough, who, as the son of the hero Brian, 
put forth his claims, recommended and supported by the reverence 
and regard in which the Irish people held the hallowed memory of 
his illustrious sire. But the misgivings and suspicions that iiung 
over the strange and mysterious death of his brother Tiege, closed 
the doors of favour and popularity against his election by the estates. 
A dark cloud of imputation rising out of his brother's death, lowered 
over his character, which all the efforts of his friends could not 
dispel. "Finding his own tribe of the Dalgais so much reduced by 
the late battle of Clontarf that they were incapable of assisting in 
another contest, and that the wicked step which his mad ambition 
had suggested for proving a claim to the succession, was the prin- 
cipal cause of preventing the attainment of his wish, he and a few of 
the Dalgais, in A. D. 1024, who still adhered to him, repaired, as 
soldiers of fortune, to Germany, where they were kindly entertained 
by the emperor, Conrad II., who appointed Donough his general 
against the northern heathens. After a great career, success in 
that command, and being much honoured by the emperor for it, he 
returned again to his native land, where he still found a cool recep- 
tion ; the murder of his elder brother not having been yet forgotten 
by those who regarded the memory of the valiant Brian. By some 
means or other, however, either by tokens of sincere repentance, or 
by the vast renown which he had acquired in arms, the inhabitants 
of his own province were reconciled to him ; they submitted to his 



502 

government, and assisted him to recover the submission and tribute 
which had usually been paid by others to the kings of Munster. 
Having thus established himself in his own province, he boldly 
asserted his right to the throne of Ireland as the son of Brian. The 
right of Brian, however, had been acquired by fortune of war and 
popularity of character, — but the pretension of a son who was far 
from being popular, had nothing but force and faction to suppoft it. 
Had Tiege, his eldest brother, been living at this time, to whom 
Brian left the crown, he would doubtless, for his father's sake, have 
derived the same right from popularity. By force, however, Donough 
was enabled to make a show of sovereignty, and assume the title of 
monarch ; and to get himself acknowledged and submitted to as 
such over all Leath-Mogha*' or the southern half of the kingdom, 
and in the greatest part of the territories of the other half. But in 
opposition to him a great party was formed by Dermod Mac-Mal- 
Namho, his nephew, then king of Leinster, in favour of his first 
cousin, Turlogh, the son of Tiege, who assumed also the title of 
monarch of Ireland, and was recognized as such by a powerful fac- 
tion that zealously supported him." 

During these contests for the crown of Ireland, the national 
estates appointed Cuan O'Loughlin, prince of Ulster, and a de- 
scendant of Nial, the Great, regent of the kingdom. The two most 
prominent competitors for the regal power of the Irish monarchy, 
were, at this time, Donough and his nephew Turlogh, the preten- 
sions of each of whom were zealously sustained by their rival and 
respective parties. Donough, feeling jealous of the Clan Colman, 
(the relatives of the late King Malachy) made an incursion into 
Meathjt where he committed the most enormous acts of rapacity 
and aggression. Enriched with spoils ravaged from the people of 
that country, and secured by a great number of hostages, he, flushed 
by success, marched back to Dublin, attacked that city, and com- 
pelled its head and notables to acknowledge him as monarch of 
Ireland. From Dublin he marched to the city of Waterford4 At 

^ Leath-Mogha and Leath-Con, which in Irish signify the halves, a deriva- 
tion which arose from Eogan Mogha, king of Munster, and Con of the hundred 
battles, monarch of Ireland, in the year A. D. 166, making a partition of the 
kingdom between them, by the terms of which Eogan was to exercise sovereign 
sway over the southern half of tlie island, and Con of the northern half. 

t Meath is one of the richest and most populous counties in Ireland, — abound- 
ing with cattle and corn, and containing a population ol' 119,580 souls. Of this 
county we will have occasion to speak more largely in a note to a future chapter. 

X Waterford is a fine and populous city, most advantageously situated on the 
south side of the river Suir, about five miles from the juncture of that majestic 
stream with the Nore and the Barrow, whose conjoined waters form the noble 
harbour of the city. It is eight miles distant from the sea, but the river, running 
from it, is so broad and deep that ships of the lieaviest burden can sail up to the 
harbour. Waterford is a place of great commerce and industry, and it has been 
the scene of many historical incidents, of which we will speak, fully, in a future 
note. We have already related that St. Carthag, bishop of Lismore, was the 
founder (A. D. 638,) of the united sees of Waterford and Lismore. The chief 
edificial ornaments of Waterford, are the Exchange, Cathedral, Bishop's palace. 
Theatre and Court-house. The magnificent quay of Waterford, nearly half a 
mile in length, is considered to be unequalled in Europe. The monastic and 
feudal ruins of Waterford are noble and affecting, even in decay. The priory of 
St. Leonards still presents beautiful, architectural and sculptural remains. Water- 
ford stands at the distance of ninety-six EngUsh miles from Dublin. 



503 

this era, the kings of Leinster, Connaught and Breffeny,* formed 
an alliance against Donough, and for the purpose of raising his 
nephew Turlogh to the supreme throne of Ireland. Donough, to 
secure the power which he obtained by the infamous crime of fratri- 
cide, formed an alliance with Harold II., king of England, whose 
daughter, the princess Driella, he married. Shortly after his union 
with the English princess, Donough, knowing that he had no hold 
in the affections of the Irish people, who only sought for an oppor- 
tunity of shaking off the intolerable yoke of his oppression, garri- 
soned all the fortresses in his possession, with English mercenaries. 
In A. D. 1053, Harold visited Ireland for the purpose of obtaining 
assistance from his son-in-law, to resist the invasion of William, 
Duke of Normandy. Donough sent three thousand of his best troops 
to England, whose prowess and valour at the battle of Hastings, are 
so highly extolled by Holinshed, and other English liistorians. 
Turlogh and his uncle Donough, came to battle at Ardagh,t in the 
year 1063, in which engagement the latter was totally defeated. 
The result of this battle prostrated the power and the fortunes of 
Donough. All his former friends now abandoned him, — so that 
giving up his hopes to despair, he made a formal abdication of the 
Irish throne in favour of his victorious nephew Turlogh. Donough, 
with a heart touched with the " compunctious visitings" of remorse, 
set out on a pilgrimage to Rome, where he assumed a religious 
habit in the monastery of St. Stephen, and in that retreat terminated 
his days, in the year 1066. On his introduction to the then Pope 
Alexander II., he presented to him the crown and harp, and many 
other rich jewels belonging to the splendid regalia of his great and 
magnanimous father, the brave Brian. Pope Adrian IV., the ille- 
gitimate brother of Henry II. of England, (originally named Nicholas 
Brekespere) the only Englishman that ever wielded the pontifical 
power in Rome, alleged this presentation of the Irish regalia, by 
Donough, in vindication of his right to invest his brother Henry II., 
with the sovereignty of Ireland. What a futile, flimsy and hollow 
pretext for transferring a whole nation to a foreign king ! The 
harp remained in the Vatican until Pope Leo X. sent it, and other 
Irish relics, as presents to Henry VIII., with the title of " King, 
defender of the faith "^ The departure of Donough left " no rival 

* BREFrENY. The district bearing this name, formerly was known as the 
patrimonial territories of the O'Rourkes and O'Reillys, and comprehended the. 
counties of Leitrim and Cavan. 

t Ardagh, which gives title to a bishop's see, is situated in the central part of 
the county of Longford, at the distance of six miles S. W. from Edgeworthstown 
The see, as we have already stated, was founded by St. Patrick, in the year 454, 
who placed over it, as first bishop, St. Moel, his nephew. The country which 
spreads around Ardagh is fine and fertile. 

t Some time after, Henry presented the harp to liis favourite, the first earl of 
Clanrickarde, in whose family it remained until the beginning of the last century, 
when it came in the paraphernalia of Lady Eliza Burgh, into the possession of her 
husband, Colonel McMahon, of Clenagh, in the county of Clare; after whose 
death it passed into the hands of Commissioner McNamara, of Limerick. In 
1782, the possession of this fluctuating harp devolved on the Right Honourable 
W. Conyngham, the father of the noble marquis of that name, who was such a 
favourite of King George IV. The marquis is an absentee, and one of those who 
spend the income of their estates in foreign countries. His domain and castle at 



504 

near the throne" of Turlogh ; but still he never was confirmed in the 
monarchy by the formal recognition of the states of Ireland. 

Turlogh's ambition and pride grew to the height of his power. 
He invaded Leinster and Coniiaught with a large force of the Dal- 
gais and the Leinsterians, under the command of his cousin, Dermod, 
king of Leinster. In A. D. 1072, Turlogh, with his ally and cousin 
Dermod, attacked Connor, the son of Malachy, at Athboy,* in 
Meath, and defeated his army and killed himself; but the king of 
Leinster also, with several of Turlogh's officers, fell in the engage- 
ment. Turlogh was a prince of heroism, clemency and generosity, — 
brave in the field, and wise in the cabinet. " He seems," says 
O'Flaherty, "to have imitated the great example of his grandfather, 
Brian, as far as the distractions of the times would permit, in estab- 
lishing good laws, in punishing transgressors, and in protecting and 
rewarding merit. In short, he was worthy of his illustrious descent, 
and of the throne whicii he filled. "t 

Murtough, the son of Donough, assisted by his party, made an 
attempt, at this period, to raise an insurrection against his cousin, 
Turlough, — but it proved abortive, and Murtough had to fly for 
refuge to his relations in Connaught. Turlogh invaded Connaught, 

Slane, in the county of Meath, are picturesque and magnificent. He, with a view of 
preserving so rare an antique of Irish royalty in an enduring shrine worthy of the 
memorable glory associated with the harp of" Brian the brave," deposited it in the 
library of the University of Dublin. When the late George IV. visited that city, he 
touched the strings which so often breathed the soul of melody under the masterly 
fingers of his royal predecessor. The erudite General Vallancey, (to whose pro- 
found researches in the literature and antiquities of Erin, the Irish are perhaps more 
indebted, than to any other elucidation of inquiry ever set on foot, save the sublime 
lights of investigation which the patriotic Ludy Morgan has kindled in the his- 
torical catacombs of the ancient grandeur of the *' Isle of Harps,") has given the 
following comprehensive description of this far-famed harp, that so often sounded 
the " voice of song" at the royal banquets of Tara. " It is 32 inches high, and of 
extraordinary good workmanship. The sounding board is of oak, the arras of red 
sally — the extremity of the uppermost arm, in front, is capped with silver, ex- 
tremely well wrought and chiselled ; it contains a large crystal set in silver, and 
under it was another stone now lost. The buttons or ornamental knobs, at the 
sidaof this arm, are of silver. On the arm are the arms of the O'Brien family, 
chased in silver — the bloody hands supported by lions. On the sides of the front 
arm, within two circles, are two Irish wolf dogs, cut in wood. The holes of the 
sounding board where the strings entered, are neatly ornamented with escutcheons 
of brass, carved and gilt. This harp has twenty-eight keys, and as many string 
holes, consequently there were so many strings. The foot-piece or rest, is broken 
oflT, and the parts to which it was joined are very rotten. The whole bears evi- 
dence of an accomplished and expert artist." — Vide Collectanea Hibcrnica. — Mo. 12. 

* Athboy is a pretty village, situated in the barony of Lune, county of Meath, 
at the distance of three miles S. W. from Trim, and twenty-three N. W. from 
Dublin. Its vicinity is full of landscape ornaments — such as fine domains and 
monastic and castellated ruins. Near Athboy, at Rathmore, is the residence of 
the present Earl of Darnley, a title bestowed on his father, John Bligh, Esq., by 
Mr. Pitt, in consequence of his voting in the Irish House of Commons for the 
legislative union. The Bligh family were Cromwellian adventurers, who were 
enriched by the ruthless regicide, with the forfeited estates of Lord Gormanstown. 

t Archbishop Usher, of Armagh, has given in his works copies of the Latin 
letters which passed between Turlogh and Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, 
in one of which the primate styles the monarch Turlogh, " the magnificent king 
of Ireland." In another letter written by the English primate to Turlogh, the 
prelate says — " That God has bestowed his blessing upon the kingdom of Ireland, 
when he raised your majesty to the regal dignity of that kingdom, is evident to 
every considering person." 



505 

in A. D. 1076, reduced the whole province to subjection, and suc- 
ceeded in capturing Roderick O'Connor, its king, whom he liberated 
on being paid a large ransom, and getting hostages from him, 
and from his vassal chiefs, O'Rourke of Leitrim, and O'Kelly of 
Galway. Shortly after returning to his palace at Limerick, he was 
waited upon by O'Leavey, prince of Down, and O'Mealsachlin of 
Meath, each of whom offered him homage, and paid him a joint 
tribute of 1,000 oxen, 120 mantles of gold-spangled silk, 40 ounces 
of gold, and many richly mounted swords and spears. 

In A. D. 1084, O'Rourke, prince of Brefteny, made an irruption 
with his forces into Thomond, (the present county of Clare ;) but 
as he was in the act of flying off with spoils and captives, he was 
overtaken at Inchiquin,* county of Clare, by Turlogh, who destroyed 
his army and killed himself The latter years of Turlogh were 
rendered miserable by the oppression of a most painful disease 
which afflicted him. Prior to his death, he zealously devoted him- 
self to prayer and penance, and founded and endowed many abbeys, 
among them Coonagh, Rathkeal,t and Castle-Connell,| in the county 
of Limerick. Turlogh died in the year 1086, in the seventy-seventh 
year of his age. He was certainly a brave warrior, possessed of an 
enlightened mind, and a gallant spirit. By his queen, Saibli, 
daughter of McCarthy, king of Desmond, he had four sons, Tiege, 
who only survived him a few months, Murtough, his immediate 
successor on the throne, and Dermod and Donough, — the latter was 
killed fighting under his brother Murtough, in battle, in Meath. 

* Inchiquin is the name of a barony and village in the county of Clare, from 
which the O'Brien family take the title of Earl. 

t Rathkeal, formerly a place of consequence, is a pretty little market and 
post town, situated on the river Deel, in the barony of Connello, in the county of 
Limerick, at the distance of 174 English miles from Dublin. Here are to be seen 
the ruins of an Augustinian monastery, and of a feudal castle ; the latter famed, 
in history, for its brave opposition to the troops of Queen Elizabeth. 

t Castle-Connell, the ancient residence of Mr. O'Connell's ancestors, the 
kings of Limerick, is situated on the east side of the river Shannon, at the distance 
of six Irish miles N. from the city of Limerick. The castle and the lands belong- 
ing to it, were granted by King John to Richard de Burgo, then earl of Ulster. 
The castle was converted into a strong hold, by the English, to resist the attacks 
of the O'Connell's and O'Briens, the chieftains of the soil. Burke, Lord Castle- 
Connell, a devoted adherent of the regal ingrate, James II., bravely defended this 
fortress for four days, against King William's whole army, under Ginkle, and the 
prince of Hesse, and only surrendered on the honourable condition of being per- 
mitted to repair to the garrison of Limerick. " Ginkle," says an Irish topogra- 
pher, " considered it so strong a hold that he ordered it to be blown up, — and the 
explosion was so great that it shook many houses, and broke several windows in 
Limerick." The ruins of Castle-Connell stand on a high rock overhanging the 
river Shannon, The spa of Castle-Connell is famed for its healing virtues. 
64 



CHAPTER LXV. 

Division of the Irish Mojiardiy between Murtough IV. and Donald V. — His wars 
with the Prince of Tyrconnel. — The national Synods. — Magnus Godfrey, King of 
J^orioay, — his conduct. — Accession to the throne of Turlogh II. Murtough IV, — 
his successor, tcho quarrels icith his brother Derrnod. — Death of Murtough in the 
abbey of Lismore. — Victories of Turlogh, the Great: — his death. — Intestine wars 
in Munster. — Geographical divisions of Ireland, — rivers, lakes and mountains. 

To Turlogh II. succeeded his eldest son, Murtough, in A. D. 
1086, but he had scarcely mounted the throne, when he banished his 
brother Dermod for some imputed disalFection, and then raised a 
numerous army, with which he invaded Leinster, and placed^ as 
some affirm, his son Domhnal as his viceroy in that province. He 
ravaged the western parts of Ulster ; but Donald O'Loghlin, of the 
Hy-Nial dynasty, arrested his progress in the county of Donegal, in 
the year 1088, by compelling him to make a speedy retreat to Clare, 
pursued by that prince to the very gates of his palace. The victorious 
Donald now set up his claim to the Irish monarchy, in right of the 
Hy-Nial dynasty. Murtough, determined to hold the sovereignty, 
collected all his forces to check the ambition of his daring rival, 
who was joined by all the adherents of the banished Prince Dermod, 
who devastated and plundered a great portion of the territory of 
Murtough in Munster. After waging a destructive and desultory 
war for the crown, finally Murtough and Donald, through the inter- 
ference and mediation of the archbishops of Armagh and Cashel, 
entered into a solemn compact, by the terms of which, Murtough 
was to rule over the southern part of Ireland, and Donald to hold 
regal sway in the northern division ; the latter territory being that 
held by his great ancestor, Con of the " hundred battles." The 
Danes of Dublin and Waterford taking advantage, at this era, of 
the intestine war that weakened and divided the Irish princes, 
elected Godfrey their chief, and declared themselves independent of 
the authority of Murtough ; but Murtough soon reduced them again 
to subjection, and constrained them to pay tribute, and to deliver 
hostages. Shortly after, Murtough and his brother Dermod, through 
the good offices of the clergy, were reconciled to each other. 

"In 1101," says McDermott, " Murtough, the Third, or Mur- 
tough O'Brian, either from real regard to the interest of the church, 
as the historians say, or out of policy to win the affections of the 
clergy, which is more probable, alienated the church of Cashel from 
the kings of Munster, and appropriated it for ever to the arch- 
bishop's see. The account of Murtough in tlie book of reigns, in 
the Irish language, is very copious ; he is therein represented as a 
good and pious monarch, wlio made a great progress in restoring 
the church and state to their former splendour, in rebuilding some 
and endowing other churches and monasteries with lands. It is, 
however, very reasonably imagined that, amidst the distractions in 
which the kingdom was involved during his reign, though he might 
have had the inclination, he could not have had the power to effect 



507 

much in this way. Three national synods, or one synod continued 
by , prorogation at different times, it is said, were summoned by 
Murtough. In the first of these assemblies, whicli consisted of the 
monarch and all the chiefs and clergy of his southern half of the 
kingdom, we are informed that many wholesome laws and regula- 
tions were established both for the church and state. In the second, 
which appears to have been a convocation of the clergy only, at 
which the bishop of Limerick, the pope's legate, presided, it was 
agreed that there should be twelve episcopal sees in the southern 
half, the same number in the northern, and two in the county of 
Meath. In this ecclesiastical division the see of Dublin was not 
mentioned ; because its inhabitants being generally the descendants 
of the Danes or Normans, their bishop at that time received his 
consecration at the hands of his countryman, the archbishop of 
Canterbury. The see of Waterford was erected at the desire of 
this synod ; the members of which subscribed an epistle to Anselm, 
archbishop of Canterbury, informing him ' that it was convenient 
to erect Waterford into a bishopric, for which' — being anothei* settle- 
ment of the Danes and their descendants — ' they had elected and 
sent Malchus to him, in regard to the primacy he had over them, to 
be consecrated ;' which was done accordingly. In the third synod, 
or convocation, at which, it is said, that twenty-five bishops assisted, 
the boundaries of the several dioceses were determined and specified, 
as a sanction to which they left their own and God's blessing upon 
all the succeeding bishops who should support the regulations 
ordained in that synod ; and dreadful imprecations on those who 
should presume to violate them. Hitherto there was no pope's 
legate in Ireland ; and the mention of one now is ascribed by Dr. 
Warner to the crown of Ireland having been brought to Rome by 
Donough, the son of Brian, and presented to the Pope. 

We are told by William of Malmsbury, which is also quoted by 
Ware, 'that our Henry, the First, had Murtough and his successors 
so much at his devotion, that they would not write nor do any thing 
without his approbation; though it was reported that Murtough, for 
what cause was not known, had for some time carried himself more 
high than usual towards the English, but upon the interdicting of 
shipping and commerce, he soon grew milder.' The Irish writers 
take no notice of any such intercourse between the monarchs of 
that age ; nor is there the least allusion to treaties of commerce 
between the Irish nation and the English, in any of their histories. 
There is, however, sufiicient proof that Murtough governed the half 
of the kingdom which was allotted to him, with peace and reputa- 
tion ; and as a testimony that his fame was not confined to his own 
country, we are told, in Camden's Chronicles of the Isle of Man, 
that upon a vacancy of their government, or rather during the 
minority of the next heir, ' the nobility of that Isle despatched am- 
bassadors to Murtough O'Brian, king of Ireland, desiring that he 
would send them some diligent man or other, of royal extraction, to 
rule over them during the minority of Olave, the son of their late 
sovereign. The king readily consented, and sent Donald, the son 
of Tiege, with orders and instructions to govern the kingdom, 



508 

though it belonged not to hira, with modesty and tenderness. But 
as soon as he was advanced to the throne, he behaved with so much 
cruelty, that, at the end of three years, he was banished.' 

The following anecdote, which is copied by Ware and Keating 
from the annals, does not indeed redound to the credit of this 
monarch, and is too ridiculous for belief. We are told that Magnus, 
king of Norway, sent a messenger to Murtough, with his shoes, 
which he commanded him to carry on his shoulders through his 
house on Christmas day, as a testimony of his subjection; and that 
the monarch complied with this ignominious injunction. Magnus, 
however, was not content with this abject submission of the king of 
Ireland, but fitted out a numerous fleet, manned with Danes and 
Normans, in order to plunder and destroy his country. As soon as 
the northern king and his nobility, and some of the soldiers, from 
the first ships, were landed, the Irish army, who Avere in ambush, 
were so well prepared to receive them, that the invaders were every 
one cut to pieces ; which the rest of the fleet observing, they imme- 
diately tacked about and returned home. 

In all probability there was some foundation for this story ; but, 
without doubt, there is some strange misrepresentation ; it is not to 
be supposed that a monarch of Murtough's descent, intrepidity and 
power in the southern half of Ireland, who was continually in arms 
with the monarch of the other half, would so tamely yield to such 
an insolent demand ; and if he had been base enough to submit to 
the degradation, the king of Norway could have had no pretence 
for hostilities ; and as no hostilities could have been expected, how 
could the Irish have been so well prepared to receive them ? The 
numerous fleet which the northern king fitted out, is a proof that 
his indignant message to Murtough was treated with deserved con- 
tempt. 

Towards the latter end of this divided monarchy, the young king of 
Connaught, called Turlogh, the Great, became exceedingly trouble- 
some to both Murtough and Donald. This Turlogh was of the 
Heremonian line, and being possessed of a warlike spirit, he found 
no difiiculty in taking advantage of the dissensions which then pre- 
vailed. The province of Munster had been invaded by Turlogh, 
and plundered with great hostility: and, though a warrior of the 
house of Brian attacked him in his retreat, and defeated his army 
with a terrible slaughter, yet soon recovering this loss, he invaded it 
a second time by sea and land ; marching himself at the head of his 
army, and committing many acts of violence upon the people till 
he came to Cork, where his fleet, which had obeyed his order in 
spoiling and ravaging all the coasts, met him according to his 
appointment : and together they reduced the province so much 
under his obedience, that, taking hostages for their submission and 
future homage, he committed the government of the north division 
to Connor O'Brian, and that of the southern to Donough Mac 
Carthy, of the same royal house. In short, all the provinces of the 
island were, each in turn, invaded and harassed by this king of 
Connaught. 

Whether Turlogh wrested all power out of the hands of Murtough, 



509 

as some writers state, or whetlier, as others declare, a tedious malady 
inclined him to relinquish the cares of a troublesome government, it 
is impossible to ascertain. Indeed both of these causes might have 
led to his secession. About two years before his death, Murtough 
retired to the monastery of Lismore, and after a short stay there, he 
took the habit of a monk, at Armagh, where he terminated his days : 
but the place of his interment is much disputed. In the British 
Chronicles, which treat of his death, he is styled ' the most great 
and worthy king of all Ireland :' and in the annals of Leiglilin, it is 
said of him, ' Murtough, the most serene prince, faithful to his allies, 
formidable to his enemies, bountiful to strangers, who for his piety 
and justice, above all other princes, deserved the love of his subjects, 
died, and was buried at Ferns." 

On the death of Murtough, A. D. 1119, Donald acquired no addi- 
tion to his former authority, which was still disputed by Turlogh, 
king of Connaught. Donald, however, contrived to preserve it till 
his death, which was two years after that of Murtough. This is a 
period in the Irish history which is attended with much confusion, 
owing to the different accounts given by different writers. By some 
we are told that Donald survived Murtough six years. Others 
declare that Turlogh had a share of the government of the southern 
division ; and others, that notwithstanding all the insurrections he 
had occasioned, he was only king of Connaught, as before. We 
are informed that on the death of Donald, an interregnum of fifteen 
years succeeded; and again, that Turlogh assumed the title, and 
was in fact acknowledged king of Ireland, by the majority of the 
people immediately on his demise. The circumstance of the inter- 
regnum is mentioned only by Ware, and that in a very doubtful 
manner; and it appears from Lynch and O'Connor, that no one on 
the death of Donald was able to contend with Turlogh, who was 
owned king of Ireland by tlie greatest part of the nation, A. D. 1121. 
Indeed it is not probable that one so warlike in his temper, so 
powerful in the field, and so formidable to the two departed mon- 
archs, should not seize the vacant throne of the whole kingdom 
immediately, but wait fifteen years, when there was no competitor, 
before he assumed the title of monarch of Ireland. It might have 
been fifteen years indeed before he had entirely subdued all the 
chiefs who opposed him, and got himself acknowledged by the 
greatest part of the people : and, in all probability, the name of 
interregnum has been ascribed to that unsettled period. Puch an 
ambitious, enterprising character, no doubt assumed the title of king, 
as soon as Donald was dead, and grasped at the sovereign power of 
the whole island, for which he had contended, and, in a great 
measure, succeeded during his life. 

The kings of Munster, of the house of Brian, between whom 
Turlogh had divided the government of that province, having quar- 
relled amongst themselves, and stirred up their factions against each 
other, the monarch of Ireland raised a powerful army, and a third 
time invaded it. But when he was advanced as far as the plains of 
Moin-more, he was met by Turlogh O'Brian, at the head of three 
battalions of the Mamonians, where the illustrious tribe of the Dal- 



510 

gais for the first time received a defeat. Their number is stated by 
Walsh to have been nine thousand ; but other writers, perhaps with 
more probabihty, have reckoned them only at three thousand : for 
since the death of Murtough, the Eugeueans had not only separated 
from them, but the Dalgais themselves were much divided through 
the different pretensions of their rival chiefs. The defeat in this 
battle terminated with the banishment of Turlogh O'Brian, and 
another division of the province of Munster, by the monarch, Tur- 
logh II. The repeated dissensions of this royal family, brother 
opposing brother, and each having a separate faction at his com- 
mand, so weakened the tribe of the Dalgais, which, when united, 
were always invincible, that their present defeat was unavoidable. 

In spite of all the exertions of the several chiefs at different times 
to oppose Turlogh, he not only stood his ground, but was in general 
the conqueror. Dermod, the king of Leinster, of whom we shall 
have much to say in the course of this chapter, was one of those 
who severely felt the monarch's resentment ; indeed all the pro- 
vinces in their turn were chastised by Turlogh. He made his own 
son king of Meath, of Dublin, and some other parts of Leinster: 
with his army he destroyed the country of Tyrconnel, and with his 
navy he laid waste the territories of Tyrone ; both under the govern- 
ment of Murtough O'Lachlin, prince of the North Hy-Nial. Here, 
however, he carried his resentment further than he could support it : 
and Murtough O'Lachlin, who was of the family of the last monarch 
Donald, became a rival too powerful for him to subdue. Indeed 
some writers assert that the greatness of Turlogh was so much 
diminished, and his power humbled by this Murtough, who was of 
the old Heremonian line, that the monarch was obliged to give him 
hostages as a security for his future peaceable conduct, even six 
years before he died. Be this, however, as it may, it is certain that 
they attacked eacli other several times by sea and land, with various 
success : and that Murtough had procured, besides the remains of 
the Normans, the naval power of Scotland to assist him against 
Turlogh. This contest, however, was concluded by the monarch's 
death. 

Lynch, who has consequently styled the monarch, Turlogh, the 
Great, has written many encomiums on his valour, equity and integ- 
rity, and represented him a much better man than what he appears 
to have been from the records of his reign. The distractions of his 
time, and the continual opposition made to him by one chief or 
other, would notpermit the accomplishment of many great actions: 
he built, however, the three bridges in the province of Connaught ; 
he completed the cathedral of Tuam ; he erected an hospital there, 
and endowed it with a good estate ; he settled a stipend on the pro- 
fessor of divinity at Armagh ; and he was so severe and inflexible 
in his punishment of delinquents, that having imprisoned his own 
son for some great offence, he rejected the application of many 
prelates in his favour; and, even at the end of a year, was with 
great difficulty, and not without the intercession of five hundred 
priests, eleven bishops, and the two archbishops of Armagh and 
Cashel, prevailed upon to set him at liberty. Having left almost all 



511 

his personal estate to the clergy to be divided in just proportions, 
according to their several orders, he has had the character of being 
a sincere penitent. Besides many donations to the clergy of Tuam, 
and a great number of silver crosses, chalices and goblets, he gave 
to several churches and religious houses, all his costly furniture, his 
gold and silver vases, his gems and jewels, his plate, his horses, 
arms, and all his military equipage, his herds of cattle, together 
with sixty marks of silver, and sixty-five ounces of gold." 

In the first chapter of this history, we have given an account of 
the various names by which Ireland was known in ancient ages, 
consequently it is unnecessary to enumerate them again. We will, 
however, only say here that Ireland became so famous after the 
introduction of Christianity into the island, for the learning, piety 
and philanthropy of her ecclesiastics and teachers, who, as religious 
missionaries, and erudite philosophers, went forth to diff"use religion 
and letters through the other nations of Europe, then benighted in 
mental darkness, that foreigners bestowed upon the country the 
title of " Insula sanctorum" the holy island. Ireland is situated in 
the Atlantic ocean, between 51° 19' and 55° 23' north latitude, and 
between 5° 19' and 10° 28' west longitude. It is bounded on the 
east by St. George's channel, which separates it from England and 
Wales, — on the northeast by the Irish sea, which runs between it 
and Scotland, and on the northwest and south by the Atlantic ocean. 
The sea distance betwixt Ireland and England, widens at some 
points to forty leagues, and narrows at others to fourteen. The 
distance between Donaghadee, in the county of Down, and to the 
opposite, coast of Scotland, forms a channel of six leagues. "It 
has," says an English writer, "been truly observed that the situation 
of Ireland, in relation to other countries capable of receiving and 
bestowing the mutual benefits of external commerce, is particularly 
favourable. In this respect, as is remarked by Mr. Newenhani, 
Ireland may be said to excel England ; it being possible for ships, 
departing from a majority of the ports of the former, to reach the 
western coast of France, the coasts of Portugal and Spain, and 
even that of North America, to perform half the voyage to the west 
Indies, or to the different countries bordering on the Mediterranean 
sea, before the ships which sail from the greater portion of the ports 
of the latter, can enter the Atlantic ocean." 

The extreme length of the island is, according to a late govern- 
ment survey, taken by a line running from Fair-head, county of 
Antrim, and Mizen-head, in the county of Cork, 306 English miles, 
and the expanse of breadth of the kingdom from Emlagh-Rash,* 
county Mayo, to Carnsore-Point,t Wexford, has been found by 
measurement to be 207 English miles. "It has been often re- 
marked," writes Mr. Newenham, "and must be repeated here, that 
there is not any part of Ireland quite fifty miles distant from the 

* Emlagh-Rash is a rocky peninsula situated in the barony of Erris, on the 
coastof the county of Mayo. 

t Carnsore-Point runs into St. George's channel, and is situated in the barony 
of Forth, county of Wexford ; it is a parish m the diocess of Ferns. There are 
extensive and impressive abbey ruins standing on this point, at the foot of Doman- 
gaid, a lofty mountain impending over the sea. 



512 

sea, — so devious is the coast, and so deep are the indentations 
effected by the numerons bays. The sinuous Une of the sea-coast 
of Ireland, exclusive of such parts as lie within estuaries, or above 
the first good anchorage in every harbour, buf inclusive of the river 
Shannon as far as the tide reaches, and the shores of Dunmanus 
bay,* Bantry bay, and Kenmare river, will, if accurately followed 
through all its windings, be found to measure 1,737 miles: in this 
line there are no less than 130 harbours and places where ships may 
anchor for a tide, or find shelter during the continuance of adverse 
winds. The most commodious of the bays and harbours are found 
on the line of coast stretching towards the west, from Waterford on 
the south, to Lough Foyle on the north coast, in which line it is 
believed that they are more numerous than in the same extent of 
coast in any other part of the world- Here the shore opposes to 
the fury of the Atlantic ocean, unnumbered promontories, often of 
a bold and commanding character, that assist in forming many 
noble havens, several of which are capable of receiving the whole of 
the British navy." In several of the Irish bays and havens are 
numerous islands, fertile and cultivated, clothed with arborescent 
and grassy verdure. Mr. Brewer, who certainly wrote with can- 
dour and justice of our native land, states — " There has not yet 
been made a survey of Ireland with sufiicient accuracy to enable us 
to state, with any resemblance of certainty, the superficial contents 
of the island. Dr. Beaufort lias made a computation by measuring 
the area of each county on the map formed by himself, and he 
asserts that, after rejecting all fractions, Ireland contains considera- 
bly more than 18,750 square miles, or several thousand acres above 
twelve millions, Irish measure; which is equal to 30,370 English 
miles, or 19,436 acres." Mr. Wakefield estimates the number of 
Irish acres contained in the area of Ireland, at 12,723,616. 

The aspect op the country is thus described by an English 

* Dunmanus Bay is situated in the barony of Carberry, county of Cork, — it is 
deep and spacious, and divided from that of Bantry by a narrow point of head- 
land extending into the sea. There are the ruins of an ancient castle to be seen 
here. Of Bantry-town, in the county of Cork, we have already spoken in a note 
to a preceding chapter of this history, but of the matchless, spacious and magnifi- 
cent bay, which is capable of containing all the fleets of Europe and America, we 
would say that it rs twenty-five miles in length, from its most eastern point to the 
ocean, and its main breadth is about seven miles. There are several beautiful 
islands interspersed through the bay, whose sylvan scenery presents to the view 
imposing landscape attractions. Bear Island is of considerable extent ; it lies 
near the mouth of the bay, and is belted by a balustrade of rocks. The Isle of 
Whiddy is highly cultivated, and it is garnished with rich and picturesque deco- 
rations of art. The French fleet, in 1796, which attempted to invade Ireland, 
anchored, after being shattered by a furious storm, on the northwest quarter of the 
island of Whiddy. The mountainous shores of Bantry bay are remarkable for 
their sublime mixture of wildness, romanticity and grandeur; amongst which the 
majestic elevation of the mountain monarch of the scene. Hungry Hill, is 
eminently conspicuous for its loftiness, beauty, and pictorial magnificence. " It 
is very generally allowed," says Brewer, in his Beauties of Ireland, " that no 
single view, even among the various beauties of Killarney, equals this of Bantry. 
The extent of the prospect is not too great for the visual capacity, while it fills the 
mind with astonishment and admiration." A great naval battle was fought, A. 
D. 1789, in the bay of Bantry, between the English and the French fleets, in 
which tlie former were victorious. The O'Sullivans were, forages, the chieftains 
of Bear island and Bantry bay. Boston, May, 1836. 



513 

traveller — " Ireland may be described as a country partly level, and 
partly of a surface gently undulating, with many interspersed moun- 
tains. Considerable elevations occur in the contiguity of most parts 
of the coast which are exposed to the fury of the western ocean. 
The shores of Antrim, on the northeast, are rocky, bold and high ; 
and the county of Wicklow, on the eastern margin of the island, 
chiefly consists of one vast assemblage of granite mountains. The 
natural features of Ireland, considered in a pictorial view, may, 
indeed, be said to consist of extremes. Districts scarcely to be 
rivalled, and certainly not to be excelled in their respective points 
of beauty, by the most admired and celebrated parts of any country, 
are contrasted with monotonous and dull tracts — flat, stony, dreary, 
incapable of eliciting one pleasurable emotion in the mind of the 
spectator. It is obvious that such a disposal of natural circumstances 
is, on the whole, favourable to a display of nature in her grandeur 
and unusual beauties. The principle of poetical influence is here 
exemplified on a stupendous theatre. More equable scenery lulls and 
soothes the mind, but leaves its energies untouched. The amazing 
contrariety of Irish landscape admits of no medium, but gratifies 
the traveller in the same degree as does the artificial expedient 
of conducting to the blaze of noon-day splendour, through the gloom 
of a darkened avenue." It was justly, we think, observed by Mr. 
Arthur Young, in his Irish tour, that, "the mountains of Ireland 
give to travelling that interesting variety which a flat country can 
never abound with." 

Ireland is diversified and ornamented by some high, picturesque 
and romantic mountains, amongst the most conspicuously eminent 
of which, are Curranea-Toohill or Macgillicuddy'' s rocks, county of 
Kerry, which may be viewed from the lakes of Killarney, as the 
ridge rises to the elevation of 1,180 yards above the level of the sea ; 
the next highest mountain is Donard, in the county of Down, which 
ascends to the height of 2,809 feet ; Mangerton mountain, in the 
county of Kerry, towers to the elevation of 2,693 feet; the height 
of Croagh-Patrick, county Mayo, is 2,660 ; of Niphin, in the same 
county, 2,630; of Carlingford, county of Louth, 1,855; of Gallan, 
county of Derry, 1,789; of Gullen, county of Armagh, 1,749. We 
regret that we cannot assert what is the elevation of the Nagle and 
Kilvvorlh mountains, county of Cork, or of the Curlew ones, in the 
county of Sligo, — of Knockpatrick, county of Limerick, — of Muck- 
ish, county of Donegal, — of Scalp, county of Wicklow, of Sliebh-na- 
gridel, county of Down,— of Sliebh-buy, county of Wexford, — of 
Sliebh-teach, county of Carlow, — of Ormond, or the Galties, county 
Tipperary, — of Sliebh-bangh, county of Monaghan, — of Sliebh- 
baughta, county of Galway, — of Sliebh-bonn, county of Roscom- 
mon, — of Slenish, county of Antrim, — nor of Coshbride, county of 
Waterford. 

The principal rivers in Ireland, are the Shannon, the Barrow, the 
Boyne, the Lifiby, the three Blackvvaters, one in the county of 
Cork, one in Meath, and the other in the county of Armagh, — the 
Nore, the Suir, the Lee, the Bann, the Moy, county of Sligo, — the 
Suck, county of Roscommon, — the Brosnagh, county of West- 
65 



514 

meath, — the Maig, county of Limerick, — the Glare, county of 
Mayo, — the Fane, county of Louth, — the Lagan, county of Down, — 
the Slaney, county of Wicklow, — the Newry, county of Down, — 
the Roe, county of Derry, — the Mourne, county of Donegal, — the 
Earn, county of Cavan, — the Glydo, county of Monaghati, — the 
Mein, county of Antrim, — the Callen, county of Armagh, — the 
Foyle, county of Tyrone, — the Banden, county of Cork, — the Black- 
water, county of Cavan, — the Ovoca, county of Wicklow, — and the 
Dee, county of Louth. 

The chief lakes of Ireland arc, in tiie province of Ulster, the 
Neagh, the Earne, Strangford, Swilly, Agher, Ballydowgan, Bally- 
nahinch, Derig, county of Donegal, — Erin, Falcon, Foyle, Guilee, 
Keenan, Leigh, county of Cavan, — and Guilb, in the county of 
Antrim. In the province of Connaught, the most noted lakes are 
Allen, county of Leitrim, — Arrow, county of Sligo, — Conn, county 
of Mayo, — Corrib, county of Galway, — Gill, county of Sligo, — Ree, 
county of Roscommon, — Shy, county of Mayo, — and Ray, county 
of Leitrim. In Leinster are to be seen the following named lakes, 
viz. : Derveragh, county of West Meath, — Hanah, Queen's county, — • 
Inny, Lane, Loughhall, Scuds and Shillen, all in the county of West 
Meath, — and Swilly, in the county of Louth. The principal lakes 
of Minister, are Rillarney, Drine, Hine, Allua and Lee, county of 
Cork, — Inchiquin, county of Clare, — and Lough more, county of 
Limerick. 

Ireland is indented with the following spacious bays : Dublin, 
Waterford, Bantry, Kenmare, Carliiigford, Strangford, Foyle, 
Swilly and Killybegs, county of Donegal, — Galway, Donegal, Lime- 
rick, Smerwick, county of Kerry, — Baltimore, Kinsale, Wexford, 
Drogheda, Dundalk, Killough, Ardglass, county of Down, — Dona- 
ghadee, Coleraine, Youghall, Dungarvan, Sligo, as well as many 
others, where large ships may safely enter. 

Soil and Climate.* The soil of Ireland is generally rich and 
fruitful, and much diversified in its geological genus. The author 
of the agricultural survey, has classified the Irish soil under four 
species : — " the calcareous, or that found in the limestone tracts, — 
the loamy kind, by which are meant the deep and mellow soils, 
remote from limestone, and generally occurring in less elevated 
parts of the grey and red stone districts, — the light and shallow 
sods, resting upon an absorbent bottom, as gravel and rubbly stone, — 
and the moorland or peat soil, the usual substratum of which is 
hard rock, or coarse retentive clay." Mr. Arthur Young, a liberal 

* Spenser, in his " Vieto of JrelanrI," written in the reign of Qi^een Elizabeth, 
observes of the soil, situation and climate of our native land: — "And sure it is 
yet a most beautiful and sweet country as any under heaven, — being stored 
throughout with many goodly rivers, replenished with all sorts of fish abundantly ; 
sprinkled with many sweet islands and goodly lakes, like little inland seas, that 
will carry even ships upon their waters ; adorned with goodly woods even fit for 
buildmg houses and ships, so commodiously, as that if some princes in the world 
had them, they would soon hope to be lords of all the seas, and ere long, of all 
the world; — also full of very good ports and havens opening upon England, 
inviting us to come unto them to see what excellent commodities that country 
can afford ; — besides the soijl.c itsclfe most fertile, fit to yield all kinds of fruit that 
shall be committed thereunto. And lastly, the heavens most mild and temperate, 
though somewhat more moist than the parts towards the west." 



515 

English tourist, who travelled through Ireland in the year 1779, in 
writing of the Irish soil, says, "Ireland abounds with some of the 
finest pastures in the world, and their fertility is indeed extraordi- 
nary." 

The CLIMATE of the country is thus characterized by Mr. Brewer, 
a very liberal and enlightened English traveller, Avho journeyed 
through our native country in the "year 1S25. "The climate of 
Ireland may be described, in general terms, as being greatly variable, 
but not subject to extremes, either of heat or cold. Such careful 
and repeated observations as are necessary to convey scientific 
information, have not been made, in sufficiently numerous parts of 
this country ; and intelligence of a general nature is, therefore, all 
that can be aflbrded. The prevailing mildness of the climate is 
evinced by the rich verdure retained, throughout the whole of the 
year, by the best pastures, except in the most northern part of the 
island. An additional proof is found in the vigorous growth of the 
arbutus and myrtle, often on exposed and elevated situations. The 
degree of cold is, indeed, seldom so intense as to produce lasting 
congelations; and snow rarely falls, except in the mountainous 
districts. Hurricanes are frequent; but storms, attended with 
thunder and lightning, are of unusual occurrence. The summers 
are rarely attended with oppressive heat ; but very dry summers are 
still more uncommon. The seasons are later than in England. 
Spring is tardy in its approach, and the fall of the leaf seldom com- 
mences before November. The raoistness of the Irish climate, as 
compared witii that of Britain, is the characteristic by which it is 
most strongly marked. In consequence of its situation between 
England and the Atlantic ocean, Ireland necessarily arrests, in its 
progress, the vast body of vapour collected from the wide expanse 
of waters, which, attracted and broken by the mountains, descends 
in copious showers. It would appear, however, that the humidity 
of the climate, as far as it is connected with the fall of rain, is caused 
rather by the frequency of the showers, than by the quantity of 
water which descends. It may be noticed in this place, as a curious 
feature in the natural history of the country, that Ireland is free 
from all venomous creatures. No kind of serpent is found here, 
nor are there any moles or toads. Frogs are seen in abundance, 
but it is said that the first were imported from England, about one 
century back." 

The CHARACTER of the Irish people, by foreign writers, is painted 
thus. Giraldus Cambrensis, or Gerald Barry, who was chaplain to 
King John, represented the Irish of that age as " valiant in war, 
gallant in love, generous in hospitality, and unmatched by any 
nation, in the art of music." Campion, an Englishman, who wrote 
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, with all the bitter prejudice which 
impregnated the minds of the English writers of that epoch, de- 
lineates the Irish character thus : " The people are religious, frank, 
amorous, ireful, sufferable of pains infinite, very glorious, delighted 
with wars, great alms-givers, passing in hospitality.* The same 

* " The rites of hospitality," says Daniel De War, a Scotchman, in his book, 
entitled, Observations on the Character and Customs of the Irish, " among this 



516 

being virtuously bred up or reformed, are such mirrors of holiness 
and austerity, that other nations retain but a shadow or show of 
devotion in comparison with them." Camden, in his annals of 
Queen Elizabeth, published in the year 1615, gave the following 
portrait of the Irish : — " They are of a middle stature, strong of 
body, of an hotter and nioister nature than many other nations, of 
wonderful soft skins, and by reason of the tenderness of their 
muscles, they excel in nimbleness, and the flexibility of all parts of 
their body. They are reckoned of a quick wit, prodigal of their 
lives, enduring travel, cold and hunger, given to fleshy lusts, kind 
and courteous to strangers, constant in love, impatient of abuse and 
injury, in enmity implacable, and in all afliections most vehement 
and passionate." Spenser, after describing the dress and arms of 
our ancient warriors, says, "I heard great warriors say, that in all 
the services which they had seen abroad in foreign countries, they 
never saw a more comely man than the Irishman, nor that cometh 
on more bravely in his charge." 

We will conclude this chapter by giving a geographical and statis- 
tical description of the four provinces of the kingdom of Ireland, 
named Leinsteh, Munster, Connaught and Ulster, which pro- 
vinces comprehend thirty-two counties, which are subdivided into 
252 baronies, and the latter are partitioned into 2,436 parishes. 

The province of Leinster is bounded by Ulster on the north, — 
on the east by St George's channel, — on the west by Connaught, — 
and on the south by the sea and part of Munster ; and is about 128 
miles in length, and 74 tn breadtli. It contains twelve counties, 
viz. : Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Kilkenny, King's county, Longford, 
West Meath, Wexford, Queen's county, Louth, Carlow and Wick- 
low, which comprehend 992 parishes. It is a rich and fertile pro- 
vince, thickly studded with cultivated domains and fruitful farms, 
which occupy an area of 2,792,450 acres, or 7,360 English square 
miles. The population of Leinster was found, by a late census, to 
be 1,998,695 souls. Its chief cities and towns are Dublin, Kilkenny, 
Drogheda, Trim, Rells, Mullingar, Naas, Wicklow, Wexford, 
Philipstown, Maryborough, Dundalk, Granard, Carlow and Kells 
(county of Meath.) The most ancient Milesian families of Leinster, 
holding estates on the arrival of the English, were the O'Kavanaghs, 
O'Byrnes, O'TooIes, Kinsellas, Murphys, O'Kellys, O'McLoghlins, 
(the descendants of Malachy II.) theBeataghs, O'Molloys, O'Mores, 

people, as among all the Celtic tribes, are deemed sacred. The stranger is treated 
on all occasions with the utmost attention and respect, with a courtesy and polite- 
ness which more elevated society consider as belonging, exclusively, to them- 
selves. The Irish are ardent and high spirited, and full of impetuosity : they 
have got some vanity, they may be flattered, as they possess the warmest affec- 
tions, and they may be very easily secured ; but they have a degree of resentment 
that will not suffer them, with irnpunity,to be injured or insulted." Mr. Brewer, 
in eulogising the characteristic hospitality of the Irish nation, concludes his lauda- 
tory remarks thus : — " The virtue of hospitality has been so frequently attributed 
to the Irish, in the warm language of grateful admiration, that their liberality on 
this head is now almost confirmed into a proverb. It has been forcibly and truly 
eaid, that a stranger might travel throughout the land, might inspect the richest 
and the poorest districts, and raeet with unpurchased shelter and entertainment 
in the whoje of his journey." 



517 

O'Connors, O'Carrolls, O'Dempsys, McCoghlins, O'Ryans, O'Duns, 
McGuinises, O'Hanlons, McMuirou^hs, Fitzpatricks, O'Brennans, 
McGeoghans, Daltons, McAulays, O'Farrells and O'Tuilts. 

The province of Munster, the largest in Ireland, is bounded on 
the east by Leinster, — on the west by the Atlantic ocean, — on the 
north by parts of Leinster and Connaught, from which it is separated 
by the river Shannon, — and on the south by the ocean : its length 
is estimated to be 135 miles, and its breadth 120, and its square 
miles, according to Wakefield, 9,276, English measure, equal in 
Irish acres, to 3,377,160. It contains six counties, viz. : Clare, 
Kerry, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford, which are sub- 
divided into 59 baronies, 816 parishes, and inhabited by a computed 
population of 2,168,293. The chief towns of this province are Cork, 
Limerick, Waterford, Ennis, Clonmel, Cashel, Dungarvan, Tralee, 
Killarney, Cloyne, Ferraoy, Mallow and Rathkeal, (county of Lime- 
rick.*) The ancient proprietors of the territory of Munster, at the 
period of the English invasion, were the McCarthys, O'Sullivans, 
O'Connells, O'Briens, O'Mahonys, O'Driscolis, O'Learys, O'Dees, 
O'Sheas, O'Keeffes, O'Healy's, O'Lehans, O'Donoughues, O'Flan- 
neys, O'Gradys, O'Loghlins, O'Mahons, O'Dalys, O'Kearneys, 
O'Callans, O'Gormans, McGillicuddys and Macnamaras. 

The province of Connaught contains five counties, viz. : Galvvay, 
Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Siigo. It is bounded on the south 
by Munster, — on the north and west by the Atlantic ocean, — and on 
the east by parts of Ulster and Leinster. The principal towns of this 
province are Galway, Siigo, Roscommon, Castlebar, Athlone, West- 
port, (county of Mayo) Jamestown, Tuam and Carrick-on-Shannon 
(county of Leitrim.) The population of the province amounted, in 
the year 1833, to 1,368,177. This is the greatest grazing province 
in Ireland, as the counties of Galway, Roscommon, Mayo and Siigo, 
supply the great fair of Ballinasloe, which is attended by purchasers 
from all parts of the kingdom, with immense numbers of oxen, 
heifers and sheep. Prior to the invasion of Henry II., the Milesian 
proprietors of the soil of Connaught, were the O'Connors, O'Kellys, 
O'Rourkes, O'Mailys, O'Reillys, O'Hallorans, O'Flahertys, McDer- 
motts, O'Maddens and O'Lallys. 

Ulster, the most northern province of Ireland, containing nine 
counties, viz. ; Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Down, Ferma- 
nagh, Londonderry, Monaghan and Tyrone, is bounded on the north 
by the Deucalednian sea, — on the east by St. George's channel, — on 
the west by the Atlantic ocean, — and on the southwest by parts of 

* " This southern province comprises tracts of great natural beauty and fertility, 
but there are many ranges of mountains inaccessible to the agriculturist, and not 
calculated to afford any real benefit to society, unless it shall be found that they 
contain mineral products in sufficient quantities to reward the efforts of enter- 
prize and industry. To the traveller in search of the picturesque, many parts of 
Munster will afford high gratification. The charms of Killarney exalt this island 
to a rivalry with Switzerland, the great show-place of Europe. Nor are the 
attractions of Munster confined to the boasted splendour of the lakes. Its exten- 
sive lines of coast, in various parts, but particularly those towards the west, dis- 
play unusual grandeur of scenery ; and the banks, not only of the principal rivers, 
but of some unregarded streams, reveal beauties calculated to surprise and enchant 
the admirer of nature." — Brewer's Beauties of Ireland, Vol. II. page 340. 



518 

the provinces of Leinster and Connaught. Ulster is 6S miles in 
length, and its greatest breadth from Malin-head, county of Donegal, 
to the point of the lough of Strangford, county of Down, is calcu- 
lated to be 98 Irish miles, and "the circumference, including the 
windings and turnings," says Seward, in his Topagi^aphia Hiber- 
nica, "at 460 miles, while the superficial area, or contents of the 
province, in Irish acres, has been laid down in survey, at 8,143,110 
acres." This province possesses 54 baronies, and 332 parishes. 
The most noted towns in Ulster are Belfast, Londonderry, Armagh, 
Donegal, LifFord, Carrickfergus, Omagh, Enuiskiilen, Downpatrick, 
Cavan, Newry, Monaghan, Cootehill and Castleblaney. The to- 
parchs of its Milesian chiefs were, before the coming of the English, 
the O'Neils, O'Donnells, O'Cahans, O'Dougher'tys, McMahons, 
Maguires, O'Gallaghers, O'CIearys, O'Quins, McSvveenys, McDon- 
alds, O'Haras, O'Shiels, McCartans, McGinnises and McQuillions. 
Ulster is famous for producing the best butter, the most delicious 
salmon, and the finest linen that Ireland can aftord. The province 
is rich in minerals and fossils. Several veins of iron, lead and 
copper ores, have been discovered in the counties of Tyrone, An- 
trim and Armagh ; and the amethysts, crystals, and calcareous 
petrefactions of Lough Neagh, are highly valued by lapidaries. 
The basaltics of Antrim, the pearls, marble and steaiies of the county 
of Donegal, can scarcely be equalled by any other county in the 
kingdom.* The population of the province in the year 1833, was 
computed to be 2,393,128. 



CHAPTER LXVI. 



Wars between the monarch, Mvrtough, and Roderick, King of Connaught. — The 
invasion oj Ulster, in A. D. 1164, by the monarch, Murtough, who crveily causes 
the eyes of Eochaidh, the King of that province, to be put out, and three of his 
principal officers to be executed. — Death and character of Murtough. — Roderick 
O' Connor assumes the title of King of Ireland. — Jl convocation oJ the national 
states at Dublin, Jl. D. 1166, where Roderick is croicncd King of Ireland. — He 
invades Ulster, — the consequence. — The architecture, round towers, and state of 
letters in Ireland, at this era. — Learned Irishmen of the tioelfth century. 

The death of the great Turlogh, made room for his ambitious 
rival, Murtough O'Lachlin, or O'Neil, in the year 1156, to exercise 
sovereign sway as supreme monarch of Ireland. With the excep- 
tion of Prince Roderick O'Connor, son of the late King Turlogh, 
all the provincial kings offered him the homage of allegiance, paid 
him tribute, and sent to him. hostages. 

Murtough invaded Munster, and imposed heavy contributions on 
the inhabitants, but on returning in triumph to his palace at Kells, 
in the county of Meath, he was alarmed and enraged to find that 

* A writer on the mineral productions of Ulster, observes : — " In the county of 
Donetral are to be found, in many places, quarries of white marble, even freer 
from the grey veins than the Italian. Near the Rosses there are from twenty to 
thirty acres of ground, under which is nothing but white marble, which can be 
raised in blocks of any size." 



519 

Roderick had not only ravaged his paternal territory of Tyrone, 
but burned and wasted the peninsula of Eniiishowen,* county of 
Donegal. He reduced the entire province of Munster to subjection, 
and then carried the terror of his arms into Leinster and Munster, 
the greater part of which he laid desolate and devastated, and 
returned to Connaugiit with immense spoils of conquest. 

He gave his soldiers l)ut a short time to repose under their victo- 
rious laurels, — for his daring ambition was ever on the wing, he 
resolved to invade Meath, and wrest the sceptre from the hands of 
the monarch, Murtough. With a recruited and high spirited army, 
he set out on his expedition, and quickly reached the confines of 
Meath, and overran, as a conqueror, the greater portion of it, and 
the adjoining counties, before the monarch was able to arrest his 
career. But Murtough's power was not to be easily subverted, — 
he gallantly opposed Roderick in several engagements, with various 
success, but at length the contending belligerents agreed to make 
peace, by the conditions of which Murtough ceded to Roderick, 
free from tribute, his own province of Connaught, and the half of 
East Meath ; and as a pledge for fulfilling the terms of the treaty, 
they exchanged hostages. Roderick, before he commenced his 
march homewards, sold his half of Meath to its own chief, O'Meal- 
sachlin, or Malachy, for 100 ounces of pure gold. By advice of the 
Pope's legate. Cardinal John Paparo, and of the four archbishops, 
who had just received palls from his Eminence, fov Armagh, Dub- 
lin, Tuam and Cashel, Murtough called a synod of the prelates and 
clergy of the kingdom to Rells,t to settle the ecclesiastical affairs of 
the several sees of the countr3^ 

Immediately after the dissolution of the synod, Murtough, to 
avenge some real or imaginary affront, offered to him by Eochaidh, 
king of Ulster, made an irruption into his province, which he devas- 
tated with the most violent hostility, making many captives, and 
accumulating much spoils. The Ultonian king effected his escape 
from tlie fury of the conqueror to Armagh, where he entreated the 
archbishop to interpose his mediation between him and the monarch. 
The mediation was accepted, and in consequence, a peace was 
effected between the hostile parties, for the fulfilment of whose stipu- 
lations the arch prelate, and tne prince of Orgial, became guaran- 
tees, on the now reconciled rival chiefs swearing at the steps of the 
great altar of the Armagh cathedral, " hy the holy staff of Si. Patrick, 
and by all the saintly relics of Ireland" that they would, as far as 
regarded each other, adhere with inviolable fidelity to the conditions 
of their solemn compact. But, notwithstanding, scarcely had a year 

* Ennishovvei^, as it is called, (but it should be spelled Innis, an island.) is a 
barony in the county of Donegal, which stretches out its peninsular points far 
into lough Swilly. Its scenery is wild, imposing and romantic, — diversified with 
mountains, lakes and islands. The Innis-owen whiskey is famed for its excellence 
over all Europe and America. 

t Kells is a fine and opulent town, agreeably situated on the river Blackwater, 
county of Meath, at the distance of 39 English miles from Dublin. " It was 
once," says Brewer, " a place of great ecclesiastical celebrity, and was of so 
much value, in a military point of view, that it was formerly deemed the " Key of 
Meath." We have, in a preceding note, stated that St. Columb-Kille founded an 
abbey in Kells, A. D. 550. 



520 

elapsed ere Muvtough made another incursion into Ullad, the county 
of Down, surprised the unfortunate Eochaidh, his own blood rela- 
tion, near Dundrum,* had him seized, and then most cruelly caused 
his eyes to be put out, and three of his chiefs to be assassinated. 
This barbarous deed provoked the ire and indignation of the prince 
of Orgial, who, it will be recollected, had become his surety, con- 
jointly with the primate, to such a pitch of choler, that he took a 
solemn oath to have revenge on the monarch, or die in the attempt. 
He quickly mustered all the forces he could, and at the head of 
9,000 men, made a rapid descent into Tyrone, and was almost at 
tlie portals of the monarch's palace, in Dungannon, ere Murtough 
became acquainted of his hostile approach. Thus surprised and 
endangered, he had no time to collect a force adequate to oppose, 
with any chance of success, the invader; but possessing, as he 
eminently did, a heroic spirit, and disdaining to surrender, with 
life, to his foe, rushed out at the head of only his household guards, 
and a few followers collected on the spur of the emergency, to give 
battle to him. Never did the valour and generalship of Murtough 
display themselves so magnificently as at the battle of Litterluin, 
near Dungannon, — for although his little, but brave army scarcely 
mustered 500 men, he prolonged the desperate conflict with the 
whole forces of Orgial, for three hours ; at the expiration of which 
time, he fell under a shower of spears, while gallantly endeavouring 
to cut his way to the station of the prince of Orgial, whom he chal- 
lenged to single combat. " Thus," writes an Ultonian annalist, 
" fell Murtough, the most intrepid hero of his day, the ornament of 
his country, the thunderbolt of war, and the Hector of western 
Europe!" There is no doubt of his having been a heroic soldier, 
if our ancient historians deserve credit, but as a conqueror, he was 
cruel, relentless and vindictive, and incapable of evincing magna- 
nimity of forgiveness, or nobleness of clemency to his fallen foes. 
The battle of Litterluin, in the county of Tyrone, where Murtough 
died like a brave king, was fought A. D. 1166. 

Roderick O'Connor, the most powerful opponent of the late king, 
was now proclaimed monarch of Ireland, although not the rightful 
heir to the throne ; but his military power levelled all obstacles that 
stood in his way to the summit of regal authority. Immediately 
after his accession, he convened a meeting of the states of the king- 
dom, at Dublin, where they unanimously approved of his assumption 

* Dundrum, county of Down, barony of Lecale, is a high rock, still presenting 
the massy ruins of a castle erected in 1313, by Sir John de Coursey, hanging over 
the bay of Slrangford. Many historical events are connected with Dundrum, 
which we shall narrate at an appropriate time. It is distant from Dublin C8 Irish 
miles. " "When the castle," writes Harris, " was in repair, it often proved a good 
guard to this pass, and as oi'ten an offensive neighbour to the English planted in 
Lecale, when in the hands of the Mageniiises, the ancient proprietors of the dis- 
tricts surrounding Dundrum." The ruins to which the soldiers of that sanguinary 
destroyer of Irish architective monuments, (Oliver Cromwell,) reduced the castle 
of Dundrum, in 1652, present a circular keep or tower, strongly buttressed and 
barbacaned. The circumference of the keep is forty-two feet. From the summit 
of the rock a fine and extensive view of the outspread bay of Strangford and Dun- 
drum, can be commanded, as well as of the majestic mountains of Mourne, which 
tower near Dundrum in a southern direction. The village consists of but few 
houses, and those are of an humble character. 



521 

of regal sway, — and, in consequence, he was solemnly inaugurated 
by the archbishop of Dublin, as monarch of Ireland. Having thus 
obtained the reins of sovereign power, he began to give a free and full 
scope to his ambition. At the head of a large army he traversed 
the whole kingdom, for the purpose of compelling the provincial 
kings, and their dependent chiefs, to pay him tribute, and swear to 
him allegiance. The O'Neils of Tyrone, sons of the late monarch, 
Murtough, were forced to render him homage, and give him hostages. 
From Tyrone he marched into Tirconnell,* where the toparchs of 
that district, utterly unable to contend with him, were necessitated 
to submit to such terras of vassalage as he had thought proper to 
dictate. After making treaties with the O'Donnells of Donegal, and 
the O'Dougherties of Derry, he marched into the territories of the 
BIcMahons of Monaghan, of the O'Reillys of Cavan, of the 
O'Hourkes of Leitrim, and of the O'Mealsachlins of Meath, and 
obliged each of their chiefs to tender him fealty, and to offer him 
homage. Flushed with pride and success, he returned to Dublin, 
where he had not been but a few days, ere he issued a requisition, 
commanding a meeting, at Athboy, in the county of Meath, (a place 
about 30 Irish miles N. W. from Dublin,) and, conformably thereto, 
all the princes and chiefs of the kingdom attended, as well as the 
four archbishops of Ireland. The convocation of Athboy, was the 
last parliament or assembly that was ever held under our Milesian 
princes. It was a magnificent meeting, equal, according to the 
authority of the historians, in rank, respectability and magnitude, to 
the gi'eatest conventions of Tara in the most glorious days of Mile- 
sian royalty. 

Roderick had not been long in possession of the monarchy, before 
he assumed the part of a despot, and in consequence of which, 
several of the provincial kings revolted from their allegiance. 
O'Neil proclaimed him an usurper ; but Roderick was not to be 
intimidated by threats, — the love of sovereign sway, and the resolu- 
tion of maintaining it, excited his pride and courage. He had a 
naval armament fitted out in the port of Galway,t which effected a 

* Tirconnell (erroneously spelled Tyr) was the ancient name of the county 
of Donegal, bestowed upon it in consequence of Nial, the Great, the common 
ancestor of the O'Neils and O'Donnells, having bequeathed that territory to his 
son Connel, from whom were descended the illustrious O'Donnells of Donegal. 
Boston, June 4, 1836. 

t Galway town, the capital of the county of that name, is finely situated on a 
spacious bay in the Atlantic ocean, in the barony of Moycullen, 133 English miles 
W. from Dublin. The greater number of the houses are neatly built, and present an 
appearance of elegance and taste. Their number, in 1832, consisted of 1,138 houses, 
inhabited by a population of 33,219 persons. The inhabitants are public spirited 
and patriotic. A brisk trade in grain, linen and fish, of which extensive exports 
are made, enable the principal people of the town to enjoy the comforts of life, 
and to indulge in their proverbial propensity to hospitality. The Protestant 
church and Roman Catholic chapel are very creditable specimens of ecclesiastical 
architecture. The new court house is a tasteful and spacious Ionic edifice. 
Galway was formerly a place of great consequence, as its ancient dilapidated 
castles and monastic ruins sufficiently testify. Of the many memorable sieges 
which it bravely stood, we will speak in a future chapter of this history. The 
noble and impressive ruins of the magnificent monastery founded A. D. 1296, by 
Sir William De Burgh, for Franciscan friars, present architectural majesty in 
decay. The abbey of St. Mary, of which there is now scarcely a vestige remain- 
66 



522 

landing in Ulster, while the monarch himself overran, with fierce 
conquest, the whole of the counties of Tyrone and Armagh, conse- 
quently O'Neil and his tributaries were obliged to submit to the 
conqueror. 

After reducing the north to obedience, he penetrated into Leinster, 
and levied tribute from Mac Murchad, — the prince of Ossory, and 
O'Carroll, of Orgial. Having thus reduced all the most potent 
toparchs of the kingdom, and compelled them to secure their future 
allegiance by delivering hostages into his hands, he led his victo- 
rious legions in triumph to his native province, Connaught. 

But we will now proceed with finishing this chapter, by giving to 
our readers a disquisition on the ancient Irish architecture, orna- 
ments, weapons and utensils. 

The Grecian orders of architecture were probably those employed 
in the building of palaces and temples, by the first colonies that 
settled in Ireland. The Druidical temples were generally built in a 
masculine Doric style, to insure durability. The fragments of 
broken cornices and architraves, as well as the sculptured figures 
that enriched the friezes of these edifices, which are still to be seen 
in Ireland, afford an indubitable proof of the perfection to which 
the Pagan Irish carried the arts of sculpture and architecture. The 
palaces of Tara and Emania were immense Ionic piles, whose lofty 
vaulted domes "rested," to use the language of Dr. Harris, " on a 
forest of marble columns." 

It is pretty generally supposed that the blocks from which these 
pillars were hewn, were brought from Greece. The florid Corin- 
thian order was not introduced into Ireland until the middle of the 
fifth century, when some of our princes, enamoured with its beauty, 
majesty and lightness, used it in the erection of their mansions. 
The Christian Irish did not, for ages, build their ecclesiastical 
edifices in the Gothic style, as that order so calculated for augment- 
ing the solemnity of divine worship was not prevalent in England 
or Ireland, until after the Norman conquest. Some writers have 
attributed the invention of this style to the Normans, while others 
contend that it was only borrowed by them from the eastern 
Saracens. Indeed we know from history, that the Justinian edifices 
at Constantinople, particularly the church of St. Sophia, possess the 
characteristics of this " pointed style," as it is technically called ; 
but it was in Spain, Germany and England, that it was carried to 
perfection. The churches built by St. Patrick at Armagh, Slane, 
Trim, Finglas, Archad-Abla, (in the county of Wexford,) Ardagh, 
Down, Coleraine, Clogher, Inis-More and Druin-lias, (in the county 
of Sligo,) all exhibit the evident characteristics of the Grecian 
orders. These churches, both in their general form and archi- 
tectural decoration, were perfectly similar to those in Normandy, 

ing, was demolished, in A. D. 1651, by the townsmen of Gal way, in order to 
prevent Cromwell's general from making a fortification of it to annoy themselves. 
There was, also, an Augustinian friary on a hill near this town, which was founded 
in the year 1508, by Stephen Lynch, and Margaret, his wife, of which Richard 
Nangle, afterwards archbishop of Tuam, was the first prior. The scenery which 
surrounds Galway, possesses much landscape grace and garniture, particularly the 
romantic and picturesque banks of Lough Corrib. 



523 

particularly in the structure of aisles and cloisters. These edifices 
were generally rectangular, though some of them terminated on the 
east, in a semicircle ; they had high stone pedimental roofs orna- 
mented with a sculptured cornice. Beneath were vaulted crypts, 
where the monks retired to perform penance and suffer mortification. 
The facade was ornamented with rows of circular arches, some of 
the intersections of which were opened as windows. The marble 
sashes of these windows were beautiful specimens of Irish sculpture.* 
The steeples were sometimes square, but generally round and of the 
doric order. From the days of St. Patrick until the eleventh cen- 
tury, all the ecclesiastical erections in Ireland were built according 
to the Grecian orders of architecture. 

The celebrated chapel erected in Cashel, by King Cormac, in the 
beginning of the tenth century, surpassed in grandeur of design and 
beauty of architecture, any religious edifice in France or England. 
Indeed, the numerous magnificent ruins, which must astonish the 
traveller who visits Ireland, proclaim the taste of our ancestors for 
architecture. 

Gothic architecture was introduced into Ireland about the begin- 
ning of the eleventh century ; for Christ's church was rebuilt accord- 
ing to this order, A. D. 1038, as were the cathedrals of Waterford, 
Limerick and Cork, in 1104. The cathedrals of Cashel and Ard- 
fert, as well as the abbey of Holy Cross, are lasting monuments of 
the ancient Gothic grandeur that distinguished the superstructures 
of Ireland. The monastic ruins of Ardfert, in the county of Kerry, 
are among the noblest in Ireland. We are told by Colgan, that 
when St Brandon taught in the famous university of Ardfert, in 935, 
it contained 900 students, among whom were six foreign princes. 
A feeling antiquarian cannot see the broken columns and ivy-clad 
ruins of the ancient capital of Kerry, without execrating the memo- 
ries of an Elizabeth and a Cromwell, and exclaiming in the language 
of the Irish poet, " the majestic Denham," 

" Who sees these dismal heaps but will demand. 
What barbarous invader sacked the land ?" 

Near the cathedral was an anchorite tower, the loftiest and finest 

* ToRNA EiGis, a writer who flourished in the fourth century, states that the 
marble statues of 200 Irish inonarchs filled the niches of the grand gallery of 
Tara, in his time ; and from the life of St Bridget, written by Cogitosus, we learn 
that her body and that of St. Conlaith, were placed in monuments exquisitely 
sculptured, and adorned with precious stones. Cambrensis, an avowed enemy of 
our country, says, in his Topograph]! of Ireland, that he saw in the very church of 
Kildare described by Cogitosus, " a concordance of the four gospels; the writing, 
but particularly the capital letters so highly ornamented, that neither the pencil of 
an Apelles, nor the chisel of a Lysippus ever formed the like : in a word, they 
seem to have been executed by something more than a mortal hand." Speaking 
of the weapons of the Irish, the same writer says, " they use spears, javelins, and 
gieat battle axes, which are exceedingly well tempered, and brilliantly polished." 
Nennius, a British writer of the ninth century, bestows great praise on the taste 
of the Irish in sculpture. In 1692, a crown of gold was found in the county of 
Tipperary, of the most exquisite workmanship ; this diadem was preserved in the 
castle of Anglurre, in France, until 1804, when a Parisian artist, admiring the 
sterling quality of its gold, wrought it in the imperial crown of Napoleon. In 
1744, another crown, weighing ten ounces, was discovered in the bog of Cullen, 



524 

in the kingdom, being 128 feet high ; it fell suddenly, in 1771. In 
the ruined abbey are the ancient tomb of Mr. O'Connell's ancestors, 
as well as that of a branch of the O'Connor family. The inscriptions 
on the altars of these monuments, are cut in bass-relief, in an elegant 
and masterly manner. 

The cathedrals of Armagh and Downpatrick, for elegance of 
Roman architecture, and niagnitiide of size, surpassed, we assert on 
the credit of antiquarians, all other ecclesiastical edifices erected by 
St. Patrick, in Ireland. In the cathedral of Armagh, the Grecian 
and Roman orders were happily combined in their most imposing 
features, to suit the solemn genius of the structure. The saint built 
this cathedral on the model of St. Peter's, at Rome, in the original 
form of that edifice as it stood in the days of the Emperor Constan- 
tine, who first reared that noble pile to commemorate the celestial 
cross which he had witnessed before his victory over Maxentius. 
The disposition, according to the drawings of Ware and Bishop 
Usher, of St. Peter's, was closely followed by St. Patrick, in Armagh. 
Tiie interior was divided into five aisles, running from east to west, 
terminated at the end by another aisle or transept, from north to 
south ; in the centre or transection of which there was a semicircular 
niche for the altar, vaulted and elegantly enriched with elaborate 
mosaics and inlaid marbles. The vaulting of the ceiling was deco- 
rated also with mosaic and lacunary, or fretted enrichments ; and the 
sculptural embellishments of the columns and arches, were in a 
corresponding style of taste and elegant workmanship. Over the 
intersection of the aisles and the transept, the steeple was raised to 
the elevation of fifty feet, in the form of a square tower, and above 
this height the spire resembled a Roman temple. It was adorned 
with three porticos, to each of which there was attached a colonnade 
of Ionic pillars, whose capitals and entablature sculpture made 
eloquent with scriptural and martyrological history ; and its pedi- 
ment typical at once of the cardinal virtues and religious attributes. 
The arches were semicircular, and ornamented with a mitred head, 
in bass-relief, and enriched with Roman mouldings, elegantly carved 
in limestone ; in fine, the prominent features of Roman architecture 
were visible in the columns, entablatures, architraves, frieze and 
cornice, and equally diftused over the whole mass and details of the 
building. The successors of St. Patrick, in the Metropolitan prelacy, 
made great improvements in the cathedral, and founded many 
abbeys in Armagh ; but in 858, Turgesius, the cruel Dane, plundered 
their shrines, and burned the cathedral and a great part of the city. 
The cathedral was rebuilt by Archbisliop Catasaeli, in 884, in more 
than its pristine grandeur of architecture ; but this devoted edifice 
was again despoiled and burned by the Danes, A. D. 1004 ; but 
shortly after, like a Phoenix, rose once more in its original splendour, 
under the auspicious liberality of Brian Boroihme, the monarch of 
Ireland, and the zeal of Archbishop Amalgaid. Patrick Scanlan, 

county of Tipperary, which was equal to the other in structure and decoration. 
The gorgets of gold, and gold handled swords, curiosities, and massy goblets, 
which are frequently dug up in Ireland, furnish an indisputable testimony of the 
luxury of the ancient Irish, in this precious metal. 



535 

who was primate in 12G2, enlarged and beautified the cathedral, 
and it remained in the form in which he had left it, until the cele- 
brated Lord Rokeby filled the archiepiscopal throne of Armagh, in 
1778, when he enhirged the aisles, improved the roof, and adorned 
one of the fronts with a beautiful Gothic portico. This prelate was 
as eminent for his architectural taste as he was for his tolerant 
principles and munificent liberality. It might be said of him, that 
he found Armagh a city of miserable houses, constructed of stone 
and wicker work, and that " he left it a city of marble." He not 
only expended the entire of his episcopal revenues, but a great part 
of his hereditary income, in raising public edifices, and making 
ornamental improvements in Armagh, which he has transformed 
from a swampy desert to a paradise of architective grandeur and 
sylvan beauty ; for it is conceded by all travellers, that Armagh is 
the handsomest inland city in Ireland.* 

In the sixth century, according to Colgan and Bishop Usher, 
there were eleven liundred stone churches in Ireland, built in a 
massive style of architecture. We are free to admit, that many of 
the Druidical temples were converted into edifices for Christian 
worship, as all. our antiquarians assert that the country abounded 
with Druidical structures when St. Patrick arrived in Ireland. We 
believe it is a fact that cannot be contested, that there was no stone 
building erected in England until the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, 
. who first dedicated temples to their deities, in that country. Tacitus, 
in the life of his father-in-law, Agricola, states that the Britons had 
no brick houses, temples, or fora, as the people lived in dwellings 
composed of " wattles and clay," covered with straw. Indeed, 
Bishop Warburton, in his essays on architecture, admits the accu- 
racy of the Roman historian. The Saxons worshipped Odin, and 
the remains of the temples in which they adored him, exhibit every 
characteristic trait of the Roman style of architecture ; so that the 
Saxons, like the Goths, have unjustly obtained the credit of being 
the founders of a new order of architecture ; as it is certain that 
what are called the Saxon ornaments and the Saxon style, have not 

* Armagh, a small, but handsome city, the capital of the county, is situated 
agreeably on the river Blackwater, at the distance of 82 English miles N. from 
Dublin, and 32 S. of Londonderry. The population of the county and city of 
Armagh, in 1831, amounted to 223,768. The archiepiscopal palace, adorned with 
all the grace and grandeur which sculpture and architecture could stamp upon 
marble, will long remain amonument of the taste and munificence of Lord Rokeby. 
This elegant structure, which is situated on an eminence, in the midst of an 
enchanting domain, is ninety by sixty, and forty -eight feet high ; and exhibits in 
its design and details, the effect, magnificence and lightness of Ionic architecture ; 
and its imposing appearance is not marred by the addition of wings, which gene- 
rally detract so much from the beauty and grandeur of other edifices in Ireland. 
Large and ample offices are conveniently placed behind a plantation at a small 
distance. The immense lawns, decorated with clumps of flowery shrubs, and 
diversified with cascades, grottoes, rustic bridges, and serpentine promenades, 
arched with arborescent foliage, extend to a distant perspective, which is termi- 
nated on every side by waving groves and floral bovvers. The principal front of 
the palace is adorned with a splendid portico of Galway marble, which is ascended 
by a flight of steps. The hall is enriched with all the attributes of painting and 
sculpture. On the staircase, at the landing, are Ionic pilasters, between which 
are large cornices, with groups of figures, representing Religion, Virtue, Charity, 
Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. 



526 

the most distant relation to that people as inventors, but as they 
were used in ages in which they were distinguished for their con- 
quest and power. 

Indeed, the obscurity in which the origin of Gothic architecture 
is involved, has elicited a great spirit of inquiry, given birth to 
various conjectures, and called into action the most ingenious re- 
searches of learned men, but without removing the thick veil of 
uncertainty that conceals it from the inquisitive eye of investigation. 
Some writers suppose that when the Goths had conquered Spain, 
and the genial warmth of the climate, and the religion of the old 
inhabitants, had kindled their genius and inflamed their mistaken 
piety, they struck out a new species of architecture, unknown to 
Greece and Rome, upon original principles, and ideas much nobler 
than what had given birth even to classical elegance ; while others 
contend that this species of architecture is but a corrupt mixture of 
the Grecian and Roman orders, introduced first into Normandy by 
the knights templars and the crusaders of Palestine.* " The Anglo- 
Saxons were partly," says Bede, " converted to Christianity by 
Irish missionaries, antecedent to the coming of St. Augustine, in 
597." The first Christian edifice for divine worship, was built by 
Irish architects, at Withern, in 603 ; and after it was finished they 
were also employed, in 610, to build St. Paul's, on the foundation 
of the old temple of Diana. We have the authority of English histo- 
rians to say, that St. Wilfrid, bishop of York, who built the church of 
Hexham, in 674, sent to Ireland for architects to construct it. We 
adduce these facts to show that v.'e were then the instructors and 
civilizers of the English nation. It is to us she is indebted for the 
rudiments of ecclesiastical architecture, and for those antique sculp- 
tures which so profusely adorn her pediments and arches.t The 

* '' It would be hard," says Dr. Milner, " to determine why the pointed style of 
architecture is called Gothic, as it does not certainly owe its origin to the Goths." 
Vide Essay on Golldc Arcidtecture. " All the barbarian nations were called Goths. 
I think that what is called Gothic architecture originated with the Moors, in Spain, 
who took their ideas of columns, pilasters, or ramifications of the vaultings, from 
their grove-temples; for could the arches be otherwise than pointed, when the 
workmanship was to imitate the curve which branches make by their intersection 
with one another.' Is not the long vista or aisle, in a Gothic cathedral, like an 
avenue of well grown trees .''" Vide Bishop Warburtons account of Gothic Archi- 
tecture. " To induce us to acquiesce in this extraordinary notion, he ought to 
have proved that the Goths practised grove-worship." — Chambers. 

t " Gothic architecture," writes a very learned Irish antiquarian, " rose in 
Ireland to the zenith of its splendour in the building of the cathedrals of Cashel, 
Limerick and Killaloe, about the middle of the eleventh century, and in the 
abbeys of Jerpoint, Boyle, Mellifont, and in many others, that existed in Ireland 
before Strongbow's invasion. In the ecclesiastical edifices of this period we 
perceive the imperfect triumph of that beautiful style of pointed architecture so 
long known in Europe by the appellation of Gothic, a term, however, which the 
architectural antiquaries of the present age, seem generally disposed to reject. 
For ourself, we cordially concur in the opinion of those authors — and they are far 
the greater and more judicious number — who derive the pointed arch style from 
the east, and suppose it to have been introduced immediately after the crusades." 
*****" The advocates of the early origin of the pointed style in Gothic 
architecture," says Dr. Edward Clarke, " will have cause enough for triumph in 
the Cyclopean gallery, at Tiryns, exhibiting ' lancet arches' almost as ancient as 
the time of Abraham." And he afterwards observes that " it is evident that the 
acute or lancet arch is, in fact, the oldest form of arch known in the world, and 



527 

castles or fortifications of the Irish chiefs were raised in the area of 
what they called a dim, (a fortress) which was surrounded by a deep 
trench, its ramparts, or banks, were strongly impaled with wooden 
stakes. 

" The old Irish chiefs," writes Moore, " took up their abodes in 
raths, or hill fortresses, and belonged evidently to a period when 
cities were not yet in existence. Of these there are still to be found 
numerous remains throughout the country. This species of earthen 
work is distinguished from the artificial mounds, or tumuli, by its 
being formed upon natural elevations, and always surrounded by a 
rampart." We believe that it is now pretty generally conceded 
that the Norman towers and portcuHis-defended draw bridge were 
first introduced into Ireland by the English invaders. 

We have already descanted on the architectural magnificence and 
beauty of the palaces of Tara and Emania. Mr. Moore, in answer- 
ing the charges made by English historians, asserting that they 
were composed of wood, argumentatively writes in relation to them, 
thus : — " It was among a people thus little removed from the state 
of the Germans in the time of Tacitus, that the palaces of Tara and 
Emania, as authentic records leave us but little room to doubt, dis- 
played their regal halls, and, however scepticism may now question 
their architectural merits, could boast the admiration of many a 
century in evidence of their grandeur. That these edifices were 
merely of wood, is by no means conclusive either against the elegance 
of their structure, or the civilization, to a certain degree, of those 
who erected them. It was in wood that the graceful forms of 
Grecian architecture first unfolded their beauty ; and there is reason 
to believe that, at the time when Xerxes invaded Greece, most of 
her temples were still of this perishable material. 

Not to lay too much stress, however, on these boasted structures 
of ancient Ireland, of which there is but dry and meagre mention by 
her annalists, and most hyperbolical descriptions by her bards, there 
needs no more striking illustration of the strong contrasts which her 
antiquities present, than that, in the very neighbourhood of the 
earthen rath and the cave, there should rise proudly aloft those 
wonderful round towers, bespeaking, in their workmanship and 
presumed purposes, a connexion with religion and science, which 
marks their builders to have been of a race advanced in civilization 
and knowledge, — a race different, it is clear, from any of those who 
are known, from time to time, to have established themselves in the 
country, and, therefore, most probably, the old aboriginal inhabi- 
tants, in days when the arts were not yet strangers on their shores." 

that examples of it may be referred to in buildings erected before the war of Troy. 
^Lancet arches' are to he found also in the Cyclopean building'^ of Ireland, as well 
as m many of the early churches and round toicers in which that style was still pre- 
served." " When men inquire," says Horace Walpole, " who invented Gothic 
buildings, they might as well ask, who invented bad Latin ? The former was a 
corruption of the Roman architecture, as the latter was of the Roman lano-uao-e. 
Beautiful Gothic architecture was engrafted on Saxon deformity, and pure Ttalfan 
succeeded to vitiated Latin." A century and a half before the arrival of the Eng- 
lish, the cathedral of Tuam, and the beautiful church of Disert, county of Clare 
as well as the monastery of the Holy Cross, erected A. D. 1110, presented noble 
specimens of that style of architecture known by the different appellations of 
Gothic, Norman and Lombard. 



528 

It is time we should now speak of the round towers, which are, 
in a manner, peculiar to Ireland, and which have occupied the inge- 
nuity of so many learned antiquarians to explain their original use. 
Some have attributed their erection to the Danes, who are supposed 
to have used them as telegraphs, by placing a I'ght in the aperture 
on their convex roof; others say, among whom is the learned Val- 
lancey, that they were built by the Milesian Druids, as fire-altars ; 
but Dr. Milner very justly rejects this opinion, by observing, " that 
there was no occasion of carrying them up to so great a height as 
130 feet."* A third system is, that they were watcli-towers, raised 
in times of intestine warfare, to prevent an enemy from taking the 
dun of the chief by cotip de ?naiti ; another hypothesis is th;it of 
Molyneaux and Dr. Ledwich, who maintain with a great force of 
reason, and. an air of strong probability, that they were belfries to 
the churches, near which they are situated. To this well founded 
conjecture we subscribe, because there is not one of these towers in 
Ireland which is not quite contiguous to a religious ediiice ; a fact 
that sustains the probability that the round towers were belfries, 
and built simultaneously with their adjoining churches. Smith 
brings another proof to the support of this opinion, in his history of 
Waterford^ published in 1746, when he tells us, " that there w as no 
doubt but the round tower of Ardmore was used originally for a 
belfry, there being towards the top not only four opposite windows 
to let out the sound, but also three pieces of oak still remaining, on 
which the bell was hung ; there were also two channels cut in the 
sill of the door, where the rope came out, the ringer standing below 
the door, on the outside." It is also to be observed, that the doors 
of these towei's are uniformly elevated fifteen feet above their base, 
which has led to the conclusion that the Christian pastor was in the 
habit of addressing the people from these high vestibules. It is the 
opinion of antiquarians, that these round towers were built in the 
sixth century, which has given birth to an argument, that, in that 
case, they could not be originally intended for belfries, because bells 
were not introduced into the Christian churches until the seventh 
century ; but this argument will vanish before the historical fact, 
that during the pontificate of Pope Stephen, the congregations were 
called to church by the sound of trumpets ; so that the Irish round 
towers might be trumpet-stands before the invention of bells. The 
late Dr. Milner, it is true, worked hard to subvert this theory ; he 
says " that none of these towers are large enough for a single bell, 
of a moderate size, to swing round in it." Now, with all due 

* " The round towers of Ireland," says an Irish writer of historical learning and 
antique research, " are great puzzlers to the antiquarians. Quires of paper, as tall 
as a tower, have been covered with as much ink as inight form a LifFey, in 
accounting for their origin and use." " In despair of being able to ascertain at 
what period, and by whom they were constructed," says Moore, " our antiquaries 
are reduced to the task of conjecturing the purposes of their construction. That 
they may have been appropriated to religious uses, in the early ages of the church, 
appears highly probable from the policy adopted by the first Christians, in all 
countries, of enlisting in the service of the new faith the religious habits and 
associations of the old. It is possible, therefore, that they might, at some period, 
have been used as stations for pilgrims, — for to this day, it is certain that the 
prayers said at stations, are called Turrish or pilgrim prayers." 



529 

respect for a man who, in antiquarian lore and philosophical inge- 
nuity, was equal to any writer of his age, we would deferentially 
observe, that the diameter of our towers within, at the base, is 
generally nine feet ; suppose they diminish at the top to four, it will 
be found that a bell of considerable size, but of rounder shape than 
that now used, might very well be suspended and rang, so as to 
emit a loud sound. The idea that they were built by the Danes is 
now universally scouted and abandoned ; because if they had been 
erected by them, we would find structures of the same model in 
England, Scotland, or Denmark. Indeed, if we except the round 
steeple of the church of Aix-la-Chapelle, there is no other erection 
in Europe that bears an architectural resemblance to the round 
towers of Ireland.* 

Harris'and Dean Richardson concur in the supposition, that they 
were originally the residence of anchorite monks ; and Harris, to 
strengthen the supports and props of this opinion, tells us, " that 
Donchad O'Brien, abbot of Clonmacnois, shut himself up in one of 
these exalted cells, in the seventh century." Dr. Milner advances 
very specious and ingenious arguments to sustain the conjecture of 
Richardson and Harris. It would be hard to define their order of 
architecture ; for they are, as their name imports, perfectly round, 
both on the outside and in the inside, and carried up in this form to 
the height of from 50 to 130 feet ; they are generally built of 
chiselled limestone, and their masonry displays taste and elegance 
of workmanship, which are not to be met with in the buildings of 
modern times. 

All the round towers exhibit the same mode and plan of building, 
as if the one was a facsimile of the other. They are all divided 
into stories of different heights ; the floors supported in some by 
projecting stones, in others by joists put in the wall at building, and 
in many they were placed upon rests. There is a door into them, 
at the height of from 10 to 16 feet ; and in the intermediate space 
of the stories there are a few loop-holes, which served, perhaps, for 
the admission of light and air. Near the top of each tower, there 
are usually four of these loop-holes, corresponding, in general, with 
the four cardinal points of the compass. The round tower of 
Roscrca, in the county of Tipperary, is admitted to be the finest 
specimen of this singular species of architecture in Ireland ; the 
limestone blocks of which it is built are cut with mathematical 
exactness, and laid with such nicety in the wall, as to render the 
joints scarcely perceptible. Giraldus Cambreusis, in his Topog- 
raphy of Ireland, written in 1185, calls our round towers ^^ecclesias- 
tical edifices, which were built shortly after the mission of St. 
Patrick." " They are," he adds, " built in a style or fashion 
peculiar to Ireland; being narrow, high, and round." It w^ould 
require a greater space, and more time than we can afibrd the sub- 

* Let it be remembered that the church of Aix-la-Chapelle was, it is recorded, - 
built under the superintendence of an Irish missionary, in the reign of the 
Emperor Charlemagne, in the beginning of the ninth century, and that as a 
memorial of his native land, and a preserver of dear and patriotic association, he 
caused the steeple to be built in imitation of the round towers of his country. 
67 



530 

ject in this history, to advert to the different opinions that writers 
have expressed relative to the round towers of Ireland ; but we 
think that. their very name in the Irish language {Clog-teagh) which 
signifies in English, the Bell-house, should silence all objections and 
doubts as to the use of their origin. " The reasons," says the 
learned Dr. Milner, " assigned for attributing these works to 
foreigners, namely, the supposed rudeness of the ancient Irish, is 
evidently ill-founded. For can we suppose that the tutors of the 
English, French, and Germans, in the learned languages, the 
sciences, and music, as the Irish are known to have been during 
four centuries, were incapable of learning how to build plain round 
towers of stone, when they saw their scholars all around them, 
erecting stately churches and monasteries of stone ; most of which, 
we are assured, were ornamented with towers." The Doctor might 
have added, that the carved architraves and sculptured entablatures 
of our churches, in the beginning of the sixth century, when the 
unlettered English and Ficts were benighted in the gloom of barba- 
rous idolatry, show that literature and the arts kept pace with the 
progress of a mind-elevating religion and a sublime morality, in 
Ireland.* 

We subjoin a catalogue of the principal round towers in Ireland, 
which will, we think, impart a certain degree of local interest to 
our history — to relieve, in some measure, the unavoidable monotony 
of this subject. 

Aghadoe, in the county of Kerry, 

Aghagower " 

Antrim, " 

Ardfert, " 

Ardmore, " 

Ballygaddy, " 

Ball, 

Boyle, " 

Cashel, 

Castledermot, " 

* The stone cross of Tuam , a part of which still exists, — the statues of the twelve 
apostles at the cathedral of Cashel, the grand archway of Mellifont abbey, and 
the beautiful tracery and enrichments of many other ruins in Ireland, remain yet 
as proofs that the ancient Irish artists carried sculpture to a perfection, in the 
tenth century, which no nation in Europe could then equal. Bkewer, an Eng- 
lish tourist, to whose fair and impartial description of Ireland, we have, in the 
course of this history, frequently adverted with gratitude, says of King Cormac'a 
chapel, erected in the tenth century, on the Rock of Cashel, county of Tipperary, 
" It is the most perfect vestige of circular architecture remaining in Ireland. 
The sculptural and carved ornaments are numerous; and besides, the nail headed, 
the chevron, and other mouldings familiar with the Anglo-Saxons, they comprise 
the heads of men and beasts, together with fanciful devices. The door-ways are 
richly decorated. The columns are short and massive ; they are covered with a 
lozenge net work, and have varied capitals." Notwithstanding the numerous 
monuments of our ancient architecture, two base and venal historians, Ledwich, 
and that living apostate, Taylor, to gratify English prejudice, asserted it as their 
opinion, " that there was no stone churches in Ireland, prior to the arrival of the 
English ! !" But why should we look for truth, honour, or patriotism, from such 
bribed recreants ? Irish traitors are the most degraded of men ! Boston, June 
14, 1836. 



Kerry, is 


95 feet high. 


Mayo, " 


110 


Antrim, " 


85 


Kerry, " 


90 


Waterford, 


110 


Gal way, " 


90 


Sligo, 


110 


Roscommon 


110 


Tipperary, 


80 


Kildare, " 


90 



531 



Cloudalkin, In the county of Dublin, is 90 feet high. 
Clones, " Monaghan, 110 

Cloyne, " Cork, " 110 

Devenish, " Fermanagh, 90 

Downpatrick, " Down, " 110 

Drumcliff, " Sligo, " 90 

Druiniskin, " Louth, " 130 

Drumlahan, " Cavan, " 90 

Dysart, '« Queen's, " 90 

Ferbane, (two) " King's, " 110 

Glendaloch,* " Wicklow, «' 110 

Kildare, " Kildare, " 110 

Kilkenny, " Kilkenny " 110 

Kilfala, " Mayo, " '110 

Kilree, " Kilkenny, " 90 

Kells, " Meath, « 100 

Limerick, " Limerick, " 110 

Lusk, " Dublin, " 110 

Melic, " Galway, " 92 

Moat, " Sligo, " 95 

Monasterboice, " Louth, " 110 

Oran, " Roscommon, 92 

Rathmichael, " Dubhn, " 95 

Roscrea, " Tipperary, 80 

Scattery, " Clare, " 95 

Sligo, (two) « Sligo, " 110 

Swords, " Dublin, " 92 

Timahoe, " Queen's, " 92 

Tulloherin, " Kilkenny, " 92 

Turlogh, " Mayo, " 110 

West-Carbury, " Cork, " 92 

Taghadoe, " Kildare, " 96 

Our ancient chieftains had many stone castles before the arrival 
of the English, particularly the castle of Tuam, which was desig- 
nated " the wonderful," erected by Turlogh O'Connor, king of 
Ireland, A. D. 1150, — the castle of Ross,f county of Kerry, erected 
in the eleventh century, by O'Donoghue, — Blarney, county of Cork, 
built by McCarthy, prince of Desmond, A. D. 1138, — Lyons, county 
of Cork, built 1142, by the O'Lehans, — Margaret, county of Mayo, 
buiLt by the O'Maillys, A. D. 1139,— Monaghan, built by the 

* This tower approaches the Ivy church so near, that it communicates with St. 
Kevin's kitchen, at the western portal, which convinces us in a more satisfactory 
manner than fine-spun hypotheses or ingenious conjectures, of the original pur- 
pose to which round towers were devoted. 

t Ross Castle, (in Irish, Caislean Ross, the castle of the promontory,) which 
is situated on an isthmus, in the lake of Killarney, was built by O'Donoghue, at 
the period mentioned in the text. In the wars of 1641^ it made a resolute and 
brave defence, under Lord Muskerry, against the parliamentarian generals, at the 
head of 6,000 men, Ludlow, Broghill and Waller, and it had the honour of being 
the last fortress in Munster that surrendered to the regicides. Ross castle has 
been repaired in the last century, and it is now a barrack for two companies of 
foot soldiers. From Ross castle the Icdses and their charming scenery, can be 
seen under their most fascinating aspect. 



533 

McMahons, in the year 1136, — Enniskillen, county of Fermanagh, 
built by the Maguires, A. D. 1144, — Kelly, near Athlone, county 
Westmeath, built by the Mageoghans, A. D. 1150, — castle Derniot, 
county of Kildare, built in the year 1163, by Prince O'Toole, — 
castle Cargan, county of Leitrim, built by O'Rourke, A. D. 1169, — 
castle Connor, county of Sligo, built by the O'Connors, A. D. 
1155, — castle Buy, county of Down, built by the Magennises, in the 
year 1148, — Cashel, county of Tipperary, built by Cormac Mac- 
,cuilnan, king of Munster, A. D. 903, — and Carlow, built by the 
O'Kavanaghs, A. D. 1139. These, and many other castles, which 
we might name, is a sufficient pi'oof that Ireland was not only 
studded with stone churches and abbeys, but with feudal castles of 
that material, anterior to the invasion of the English. In a pre- 
ceding chapter to this history, we have described the sepulchral 
monuments of Ireland. 

The Rude Stony Monuments. The cromleacs, (the bent stones) 
are to be found in almost every county of Ireland, as they were, as 
is supposed, used by the Druids as altars of human sacrifices. 
These massy and rugged monuments are generally composed of 
three and five upright stones, indented in the ground, — over these 
is placed a broad sloping flag, generally varying in length from ten 
to fifteen feet. Some of these tabular rocking stones (so called 
because they are balanced, as if placed on a pivot, and so easily set 
in motion that the pressure of the hand will make them incline to 
either point,) are from four to six tons weight.* On every one of 
these horizontal slabs is cut a channel about four inches deep, which 
served, as is conjectured, to receive the blood of the victims. 
Underneath these huge erections is generally found a cavity, where, 
it is supposed, the confidant of the Druidical priest concealed himself 
to prompt the latter in his mock divinations. Mr. Moore, in his 
observations on these monuments, says — " That most common of 
all Celtic monuments, the croraleac, which is to be found not only 
in most parts of Europe, but also in Asia, and exhibits, in strength 
and simplicity of its materials, the true character of the workman- 
ship of antiquity, is likewise to be found, in various shapes and 
sizes, among the monuments of Ireland. Of these I shall only 
notice such as have attracted most the attention of our antiquaries. 
In the neighbourhood of Dundalk, county of Louth, we are told of 
a large cromleac, or altar, which fell to ruin some time since, and 
whose site, (Balbrichan) is described as being by the side of a river, 
♦between two Druid groves.' On digging beneath the ruins, there 
was found a great part of the skeleton of a human figure, which 
bore the appearance of having been originally enclosed in an urn. 
There were also, mixed up with the bones, the fragments of a 
broken wand, which was supposed to have been a part of the in- 
signia of the person there interred, and might possibly have been 

* There is an immense cromleac in Tobinstown, county of Carlow, whose 
standing pillars are eight feet high, and its tabular stone is twenty-three feet long, 
and eight in breadth. Perhaps the next cromleac, in magnitude and elevation, to 
those of Louth and Carlow, is Leahad-Caillioc, (the hag's bed) situated near Glan- 
worth, county of Cork, The covering stone is nearly sixteen feet in length, seven 
in width, and three in thickness. 



533 

the badge of the Dniidical office which is still called in Ireland, the 
conjuror's or Druid's wand. In the neighbourhood (at Ballyma- 
scanlan) of this ruined cronileac, is another, called by the inhabi- 
tants, the * GianVs Load,'' from the tradition attached to most of 
these monuments, that they were the works of giants in times of 
old. The ruinous remains of the circular temple near Dundalk, 
formed a part, it is supposed, of a great work, like that at Stone- 
binge, being open, as we are told, to the east, and composed of 
similar circles of stone within. One of the old English traditions ^ 
respecting Stonehinge, is that the stones were transported thither 
from Ireland, having been brought to the latter country by giants 
from the extremities of Africa ; and in the time of Giraldus Cam- 
brensis, there was still to be seen, as he tells, on the plain of 
Kildare, an immense monument of stones, corresponding exactly 
in appearance and construction with that of Stonehinge." In every 
barony of the country will be found circles of upright stones ranged 
around like that of Stonehinge. Within the circumference of these 
circles, the Druids, according to the opinion of our best antiqua- 
rians, held their periodical convocations. " The Hibernian circles," 
writes Brewer, "are in a good state of preservation, and are 
sometimes connected with unusual and curious particulars. As an 
example may be noticed the stone pillars arranged in a circular 
form round a tumulous, at New Grange, in the county of Meath, 
beneath which mount was constructed an extensive gallery, appear- 
ing to have been devoted to religious and sepulchral purposes. It 
is also observable that within some circles are found stone seats, or 
chairs, traditionally termed brehon's or judge's seats." These 
circles are invariably found in Ireland, situated on high eminences. 
In several parts of the kingdom are likewise to be seen, solitary or 
duplicated, unwrought pillars of stone of ponderous dimensions, 
which generally rise to an elevation of twelve feet above the surface 
of the earth. At Kilgowan, in the county of Kildare, near Kil- 
cuUen, stands a noble specimen of these Druidical monuments.* 
We have before spoken of the Irish tumuli, raths and earns, as well 
as of the caves. 

The Ornaments of the Ancient Irish. All the ancient knights 
wore torques, or twisted collars of gold, exquisitely wrought. The 
bracelets and amulets (many of which have been from time to time, 
dug up in every part of the kingdom, t) display exquisite workman- 

* The pillar stone of Kilgowan, stands on an elevated hill, and is twelve feet 
high, and four feet thick. The now little village of Kilcullen, county of Kildare, 
was once a place of monastic and military consequence, as it contained an abbey, 
and was enclosed by embattled walls, through which there were seven gated 
entrances. Here are the remains of a round tower, and of two stone crosses 
which were finely sculptured. The country around it is handsome, particularly 
the banks of the Liffey. It is 26 miles from Dublin. 

t " About a century ago," writes an Irish antiquarian, " an Irish lulla, or amulet, 
was found in the bog of Allen, which is now deposited in the valuable museum of 
Irish antiquities of the dean of St. Patrick's. It is in the shape of a heart, of solid 
gold, beautifully embossed and ornamented. Among the Romans the bullae were 
not only suspended from the necks of young men, but also of horses." Another 
Irish antiquary says of the torques, " two of these beautiful collars were dug up 
about the year 1811, in the vicinity of Tara, and purchased from the fortunate 
finder by the late Alderman West, of Skinner- Row, Dublin, whose son sold them 



534 

ship. The ancient Irish of rank also wore golden breast-plates, 
belts and rings. 

The State op the Fine Arts before the Coming of the Eng- 
lish.* In a preceding chapter we have shown to what a pitch of 
excellence our ancestors carried sculpture and architecture, ante- 
cedent to the Saxon invasion.f The frescoes in the churches of 
Cashel, Kildare, Kilkenny, and the abbeys of Jerpoint and Knock- 
moy,| though decayed by seven centuries, are still fine. These 
frescoes are mellow and brilliant in their colouring, and the artists, 
in design, execution and composition, evinced an intimate ac- 
quaintance with classical forms. The frescoes of Knockmoy, which 
can be seen on the walls of the north chancel of the abbey, are 
valuable to the antiquarian, as they present the exact dress worn by 
the Irish in the eleventh century. 

Having given the preceding sketch of the arts, we will put a 
period to this chapter by laying before the reader a short relation 
of our learned men of the twelfth century. 

Gilbert, who was bishop of Limerick, in the year 1110, was so 
famous for his literary and theological attainments, that the Pope 
invited him to Rome, and conferred upon him the exalted office of 
legate. He assisted in the consecration, at Westminster, of Bernard, 
bishop of Menevia, in A. D. 1115. His writings consist of epistles, 
and a history of the state of the Irish Church in his day. Arch- 
bishop Usher compiled his works, and appended to them critical 
notes. He died about the year 1157. Celsus, archbishop of Armagh, 
a prelate of mental power and eloquence, in A. D. 1159, wrote a 
theological summary, and, as Bale states, divers letters, and the 
constitution of the famous synod of Usneagh,§ held A. D. 1158, of 

to his Royal Highness, the Duke of Sussex." Stewart, in his History of 
Armagh, says, " in the year 1797, a golden tiara was found in the drained bed of 
Loughadian, near Pointz-pass, and is yet in the possession of William Fivey, Esq." 

* Mr. Pernie, an accomplished antiquarian and artist, observes — " Traces of 
arts and sciences are exhibited abundantly in the numerous antiquities of gold, 
silver and bronze, dug up every day in all parts of Ireland, and similar to the most 
ancient remains of Greeks, Egyptians and Phoenicians. Our golden crowns, 
collars, bracelets, anklets, — our brazen swords, spears, and domestic vessels, — our 
cinerary urns, — our sepulchral chambers, which are not to be paralleled in the 
British isles. These are the evidences of the early colonization of Ireland by a 
civilized people." 

t Mr. Pernie again writes — " Our gold and silver ornaments, bronze weapons, 
are often elegant in design and workmanship, — and some of our sepulchral urns, 
ornamented with devices and mouldings in bass-relief, show, at least, an 
acquaintance with the forms in use among a refined people. In an ancient shrine 
still preserved in the county of West Meath,are two bronze figures, — one, an Irish 
warrior helmeted, and wearing the Philibeg or Kilt, (the Scotch, as Pinkerton, 
their own historian, admits, borrowed that form of costume from the Irish.) The 
next figure is obviously that of an ecclesiastic, and is exceedingly curious for the 
richness of the ornaments on the robe. For ages after the introduction of Chris- 
tianity, the arts, though no doubt corrupt, had still a touch of the Greek and 
Roman glory, were employed in the building and decorating of churches, and 
other religious edifices, — the illuminating of religious books, — the carving of 
tombs and crosses, and above all, the manufacture in brass, and other metals, of 
shrines, crosses, croziers, and other sacred utensils." 

X Knockmoy, now a small hamlet village, is situated in the barony of Tiaquin, 
county of Galway. The abbey, and the O'Connor tomb, are rapidly going to 
decay and ruin. 

§ UsNEAGH is a lofty mountain in the barony of Rathconrath, in the county of 



535 

which he was president. The year of that prelate's death is not 
given by Sir James Ware. Malachy, his successor in the archi- 
episcopal see, was a native of Ulster, and partly educated at Ar- 
magh, under Imar, the abbot, and partly at Lismore, under Machus, 
the bishop of that diocess. On his return to Ulster, after receiving 
holy orders, he took up his residence in the abbey of Bangor, in the 
county of Down, where he had not been long ere his literary talents 
and saintly piety recommended him to the brotherhood as a person 
every way worthy of being elecited abbot. In the course of two 
years, at the dying request of Archbishop Celsus, the Pope appointed 
him to the arch-prelacy. Two years after his elevation, he made a 
journey to Rome, and had the honour of being promoted by Pope 
Innocent II., to the official dignity of legate for Ireland. In the 
year 1148, he again set out for Rome ; but on his way thither, he 
fell sick of a fever in the monastery of Clarevall, and died there on 
the 2d of November of that year. He was the author of a prophecy 
of the bishops of Rome, and of several other tracts. St. Bernard 
wrote his life. Congan, a Cistercian monk,* abbot of Suir, county 
of Tipperary, wrote, in the year 1151, epistles to St. Bernard, the 
biographer of St. Malachy. Murry, or Marian, a learned scholar, 
was abbot of Rnock,t in the county of Louth. He wrote a supple- 
ment to the martyrology of ^Eneas. Maurice Regan, the histo- 
riographer of Dermot Macrnurrough, king of Leinster, who was a 
poet and annalist, wrote a history of the aifairs of Ireland during 
his own time, and a biography of Brian Boroihme. The former 
was translated into English by Sir George Carew, who was presi- 
dent of Munster during part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
Concubran, a friar of Armagh, famous for his powers of composition, 
wrote a biography of f?t. Modwen, who was abbess of Kelslieve, 
county of Armagh, A. D. 630. The year of Concubran's death, in 
the twelfth century, is not noted in the Irish annals. Sir James 
Ware says that his manuscript was, in his time, in the Cottonian 
Library. Eugene, bishop of Ardraore,| suffragan to the archbishop 

Westmeath, where many of the Pagan kingsof Ireland were interred, — and where 
the Druids held solemn religious festivals on every first day of May, in honour of 
Beal, or the sun. Here also the national estates often assembled to legislate and 
pronounce judgment on criminals. As we have already related, many of the 
kings of Ireland resided here. 

* The Cistercian order is a branch of the Benedictines, and was founded at 
Cistercium, in Burgundy, A. D. 1093, by St. Robert, a native of France, abbot 
of Molismea. To the primitive rule of St. Benedict he added new statutes, pre- 
scribing a more strict life than was at that time observed ; which soon after 
became greatly improved by the mellifluous Doctor St. Bernard, abbot of Clara- 
valles. The lear'ning, piety and zeal of those monks increased the brethren so 
much by drawing to Cistercium a vast number of ecclesiastics, that in a few years 
they branched out through the extent of 500 abbeys. 

t Knock abbey is situated on the banks of the river Fane, county of Louth, at 
the distance of about four miles westward from Dundalk. It was originally 
founded by Donough O'Carroll, prince of Orgial, early in the eleventh century, 
and shortly after its election it was amply endowed by Dr. Edan O'Kelly, bishop 
of Clogher. 

t Ardmore (the great hill) is situated in the barony of the Decies, county of 
Waterford. St. Declan made it a bishop's see in the year 448. Here are the 
ruins of two churches ; over the portal of one of which, are to be still seen some 
curious figures in alto-relievo. Ardmore rises majestically over the sea ; and the 



536 

of Cashel, possessed superior literary talents. His biography of St. 
Cuthbert, said to be admirably written, was in the Cottonian Library, 
in the age of Sir James Ware. He died about the year 1174. 



CHAPTER LXVH. 



Dissensions among the Irish Princes. — Tlie amorous intrigue of Dermod, King of 
Leinster, icith the Princess of Breffe?iy, loho elopes with her paramour, while her 
husband, O'Rourke, is absent on a "pilgrimage. — Tlie injured husband claims the 
assistance of Roderick, the Monarch, to avenge his wroncs. — It is granted. — 
O'Rourke, at the head of a large force, marches to the palace of Dermod, who is 
obliged to fly to England, from ichence he sailed to France, to claim the aid of 
Henry II , icho authorizes the Irish Prince to enlist men in England. — The procla- 
mation of Henry II. — Dermod secures the aid and alliance of the Welsh chieftains, 
Strongboio, Fitzstcphens , Fitzgerald, Prendergast, Barry, Hervey, &/-C. — Landing 
of the English in Ireland. — Surrender of Waterford. — Dermod enters into a 'r,caty 
of peace loith the Monarch, ivhich is soon violated by the King of Leinster. 

At this juncture, A. D. 1168, the Irish princes, as usual, were 
estranged and divided from each other by the spirit of ambition and 
rivalship. The O'Niels, or Hy-Nials of the north, as the legitimate 
descendants of Heremon, always claimed their legitimate and prior 
right to the Irish throne, — and against their pretensions Roderick 
O'Connor, the now possessor of the crown, opposed his regal power, 
force and coronation. In Munster, McCarthy, prince of Desmond, 
asserted his right to the crown of that province, and to enforce it, 
by the strength of the sword, he invaded Thomond, attacked Mur- 
rough O'Brien, and killed him in battle. 

But Roderick, the monarch, threatened McCarthy with the wrath 
of his vengeance, unless he speedily evacuated Thomond, and paid 
to his commissioners 3,000 oxen, as an eric for the death of O'Brien. 
McCarthy, not able to resist the monarch, complied with the requi- 
sition of Roderick. O'Brien's brother, Domhnal, ascended the 
throne of Munster. Dunleavy, a chieftain of Down, was at war 
witli his rival, Magennis, for the sovereign sway of that country, — 
Maguire of Fermanagh, and O'Rourke of Leitrim, opposed each 
other with implacable jealousy for the same purpose. In fine, the 
whole country was dissevered and divided by unnatural intestine 
dissensions. Mr. Lawless, in his eloquent history of Ireland, in 
alluding and adverting to those unfortunate discords, writes, — "For 
a length of time previous to the invasion of Henry II., this country 
might have fallen an easy prey to the ambition of any foreign prince 
inclined to make the experiment. Torn and convulsed by factions, 
she would have been unable to struggle with the well regulated 
incursions of an invading enemy, and the errors of her children 
might have been the successful allies of Denmark, of Norway, of 
Sweden, or of England. But all these countries were then too 

country behind it presents a striking assemblage of landscape beauties, to which 
a fine round tower, and the ruins of a castle, impart a picturesque character. 
Boston, June 20, 1836. 



537 

much occupied by more important interests, to allow them the 
opportunity of taking advantage of Ireland's follies and divisions. 
The mind and passions of Europe were carried down the torrent of 
religious fanaticism, and the wealth and enterprise of its principal 
kingdoms found ample employment in the wild and unprofitable 
struggles for the recovery of the holy land. The strength, the 
resources and value of Ireland were not, however, unknown or 
overlooked by the governments of surrounding nations : her people 
were celebrated for their valour, their hospitality, and their heroism : 
the English and the Welsh have fled for succour and protection to 
Ireland, and the three sons of Harold found a safe and hospitable 
asylum in this country, when pursued by the triumphant arms of 
William, the Conqueror. An Irish army contended on English 
ground, for the rights of Englishmen, against the merciless and 
despotic ambition of William ; and we are informed by Irish an- 
nalists, "that Murtough, the Irish monarch, was solicited by the 
Earl of Pembroke, (the father of Strongbovv,) to defend him against 
the vengeance of Henry I. France assiduously courted Irish 
alliance ; and the formidable co-operation of this country with the 
enemy of England, first pointed out to Henry II. the policy of 
annexing Ireland to his English dominions." 

While the strength of the country was thus distracted and dis- 
organized, woman's spells and charms, which have, in all ages and 
nations, produced such tremendous consequences — given birth to 
such long and sanguinary wars, and revolutionized so many empires 
and states, prostrated at the feet of English invaders, the liberties 
and fortunes of Ireland. Dermod, king of Leinster, who had for 
some years clandestinely loved and enjoyed the favours of De- 
vorghal, (in English, the fair Dervo) the wife of O'Rourke, prince 
of Brefifeny, — a lady whose fatal beauties proved as disastrous to 
Ireland, as those of Helen did to Troy, on being secretly informed 
by his beloved mistress, that her husband had gone to Lough Dearg,* 

* Lough Dearg (the red lake) is partly situated in the counties of Donegal 
and Fermanagh, and spreads out its silvery surface, as transparent as a Grecian 
mirror, to reflect the picturesque mountains whose basis form its rocky frame 
work. The acclivities of these mountains, from the water to the summit, are 
robed with a sylvan mantle of the most varied and spangled verdure. From every 
pendant cliff the most agreeable flowering shrubs hang in variegated garlands and 
fairy festoons, composed of an intermixture of the lilac, the laburnum, the moss 
rose, the sweet briar, the honeysuckle, and the lauristinus. The distance of this 
lake from Dublin is-about 91 Irish miles, in a N. W. direction. In the middle of 
this lake is the island of the famous purgatory of St. Patrick, to which so many 
pious princes and heroes, from all parts of Europe, during a period of five centu- 
ries, made pilgrimages, to atone for their sins by prayer and penance. The island 
of the Priory, where the purgatory was first placed, was so called, because St. 
Dabeoc, one of the disciples of St. Patrick, erected a priory on it, in the fifth 
century. Shortly after its building, as Colgan, and the book of Donegal, inform 
us, the Irish apostle retired to one of its cells for the purpose of devotion ; but 
considering that cell too comfortable for the mortification he wished to inflict on 
himself, he made choice of another little island about a quarter of a mile distant 
from that of the Piiory, where, with his own hands, he excavated the earth, and 
built a rustic cave of free-stone, which he covered with broad flags, and over them 
placed layers of green turf That cave, part of which still exists, is 16 Ceet long, 
two broad, and three in height. We are told by Jocelyn, in his life of our national 
apostle, that whenever the saint would retire to the cave to fast and pray, that he 
68 



538 

(St. Patrick's purgatory,) on a pilgrimage, he, warm with amorous 
passion, resolved to profit by O'Rourke's absence, quickly repaired 
to the lady's residence, in the county of Leitrim, and carried her oiF 
to his palace, at Ferns, in the county of Wexford. An Irish histo- 
rian gives the following portrait of Dermod : — " Although he was 
fifty years of age when he carried off the princess of Breffeny, his 
appearance was still that of the most masculine youthfulness, — 
there was not a wrinkle to be seen on his brow, nor a grey hair on 

previously gave orders to one of his servants to roll a large stone against the 
aperture, for the purpose of shutting out even the benefit of the air and sunbeams. 
After St. Patrick's death, the consecrated islands of Lough Dearg became the 
constant resort of hosts of pilgrims from every quarter of Europe. More penitents 
visited the holy cave of Lough Dearg, from the sixth to the thirteenth century, 
than bent tlie knee of devotional reverence before any other shrine in Europe. 
Alfred, king of England, on his return from the school of Mayo, to his own 
country, repaired, as we are told by Fleming, to Lough Dearg, and there piously 
offered up his prayers in the cave of St. Patrick. It is also a historical flict that 
when Godwin, earl of Kent, and his son, Harold, afterwards king of England, 
were banished by Edward, the confessor, in the year 1044, that they flew for 
refuge to Ireland, and that during their exile there, they, with several other of 
their noble adherents, went on a pilgrimage of piety, meekness and humility, to 
the miraculous cave of St. Patrick. Every year, fiom the sixth to the fifteenth 
century, added to the miraculous fame, and multiplied the religious pilgrims and 
penitents of St. Patrick's purgatory. The priory was enlarged and beautified in the 
eleventh century, and fifty friars, we are told by Jocelyn, were scarcely able to 
attend to the spiritual duties of the island. In A. D. 1497, the brothers of several 
convents and abbeys in Italy and France, petitioned the Pope to suppress and 
desecrate the priory on the island of Lough Dearg. In this petition they repre- 
sented to the holy father, that their shrines and churches were literally deserted, 
as then the devout who were in the habit of visiting them, had all gone to Ireland, 
which reduced the brethren to the most deplorable state of indigence. The 
Sovereign Pontiff, Alexander VI., commiserating their distresses, issued out a 
Bull, addressed to John Kite, the primate of all Ireland, reqinring of his Grace to 
deprive the prior and friars of Lough Dearg of all ecclesiastical functions within 
the lakes of Avog and Dearg. In consequence of this requisition, the prior of 
Donegal repaired to the lake, as the deputy of the archbishop, and expelled from 
both islands the prior of Lough Dearg, and all his brethren. The primate of 
Armagh, in order to carry the behest of the Pope into executive effect, promulgated 
a pastoral letter, in which he threatened to visit with excommunication, any 
person who should rebel against the church by visiting the abbey of St. Dabeoc, 
or the cave of St. Patrick. The abbey and cave, in consequence, remained closed 
until the accession, in A. D. 1516, of Pius III. to the pontifical throne. This 
pope, at the instance of George Cromer, archbishop of Armagh, and high chan- 
cellor of Ireland, recalled the bull of his predecessor, and issued out another, in 
which he granted plenary powers to the prior of Lough Dearg, which remain in 
full force with the friars who reside on the island, to this day. The next blow 
that was aimed at this abode of piety, religion and charity, was sped by Charles 
I., or rather by his factious Irish government, in the year 1631. The intolerant 
Protestant clergy of the north, envious at the multitude that repaired for devotion 
to the island, while their churches were comparatively empty, represented to that 
arch bigot of uncharitableness, Boyle, earl of Cork, and his worthij colleague, 
Viscount Ely, then Lord Justices, that the people assembled there for the purpose 
of fomenting sedition and treason. This base and barefaced calumny had the 
desired effect. An order from the Irish privy council was immediately issued for 
the demolition of the priory, and the expulsion of the friars from the island. 
But in 1793, when the oratorical and patriotic genius of Grattan made the vigour 
of the despotic penal laws relax under the pressure of the lever of public opinion, 
set in operation by the enlightened toleration of the age, a few pious friars built 
a small chapel on the site of the old priory ; so that now the island, during every 
summer, is visited by hundreds of tlie devout and the faithful, not only from all 
the countries of Europe, but from America. Boston, June 21, 1836. 



539 

his head. His form was that of graceful proportion, — and his 
deportment and countenance were formed to allure a woman's eye 
and heart. His stature and bodily strength,- together with a 
boisterous valour, had rendered him the admiration of all the infe- 
rior order of his subjects ; and these, as tne proper instruments of 
his ambition, he was careful to protect and favour." 

When the confiding and unsuspecting O'Rourke returned to his 
home, in Leitrim,from his pilgrimage, "and learned," says McDer- 
mott, " the story of the violence done to his wife, as it then appeared 
from her artful exclamations, he applied to the monarch of Ireland 
for his assistance ; Roderick thought the cause of resentment (as it 
had been represented) so great, that he assisted the kingof BrefFeny 
with some of his troops. These, together with his own forces, as 
well as those of Meath and Ossory, and even some in Leinster who 
had revolted, enabled him to march to the place of Dermod's resi- 
dence, at Ferns.* The king of Leinster had, by his imprudence and 
tyranny, lost the affections of his people, and when, on receiving 
notice of the hostle preparations against him, he applied for 
assistance, their resentment was so violent, that all the chiefs 
renounced his authority, and put themselves under the protection of 
the monarch of Ireland. Thus abandoned in his distress, Dermod 
was obliged to insure his safety by flight, and become a voluntary 
exile. Passing over to Bristol with about sixty followers, he there 
heard that Henry II., king of England, was then in France, pur- 
suing his conquests in that country. The king of Leinster accord- 
ingly repaired to Henry, in Guienne, and craving his assistance in 
restoring him to his sovereignty, offered, on that event, to hold his 
kingdom in vassalage under the crown of England." 

On arriving at the camp of the English monarch, " he implored," 
writes Lawless, "the aid of the British king, and if supported by 
his arras in the assertion of his undoubted rights, promised to hold 
his recovered dominions in vassalage to Henry and his heirs." In 
consequence of the insurrection of Henry's French subjects, and the 
powerful rebellion of his brother, Geoffry, as well as the potent 

* Ferns. In a preceding chapter we have written a description of the town of 
Ferns, in the county of Wexford, which was, for ages, the residence of the kings 
of Leinster, but it is now but an humble village. Dermod Macmurrough, who 
died on the 1st of May, 1771, was interred in an abbey, founded by himself, for 
canons regular following the rule of St. Augustine, A. D. 1167. " The memory 
of Dermod," writes Brewer, " has been so universally execrated by the Irish, 
throughout all ages since the English invasion, that the precise spot of his sepul- 
ture has afforded no object of curiosity with posterity, and is now quite unknown. 
* * * In the abbey churchyard is an ancient stone cross, now broken in pieces. 
The upper part is applied as a head-stone, and the base and a portion of the shaft, 
cover the graves of unknown persons. The whole of the cross was adorned with 
elaborate sculpture, and bears a close resemblance to the monumental cross of 
Turlogh O'Connor, king of Ireland, at Clonmacnois, in the King's county. It 
would appear to be far from improbable that this is the cross which several authors 
mention to have been erected at Ferns, in honour of King Dermod Macmurrough ; 
and it may be observed that the circumstance of its broken and neglected state, as 
being significant of the little respect paid to the memory of that prince, assists in 
adding to the rationality of such an opinion." Of the castle of Ferns, built by 
Strongbow, A. D. 1173, we will have occasion to speak hereafter, as it derives 
great interest and importance from its having been the scene of memorable his- 
torical events. Boston, June 25, 1836. 



540 

opposition of Archbishop Becket, of Canterbury, Henry, though 
long anxious to possess Ireland, had to defer his journey to that 
country for the present ; but he assured Derraod of his determina- 
tion to support him as speedily as possible ; and, in order to enable 
him to raise an army in England, he gave to him the following 
proclamation. 

" Henry, king of England, duke of Normandy and Aquitain, earl 
of Anjou, &.C., unto all his subjects, English, Norman, Welsh and 
Scotch, and to all nations and people, being his subjects, greeting : 

Whereas, Dermod, king of Leinster, was most wrongfully (as he 
informeth) banished out of his own country, hath craved our aid: 
therefore forasmuch as we have received him into our protection, 
grace and favour, vt'hoever within our realms, subject to our com- 
mand, will aid and help him, whom we have embraced as our trusty 
friend, for the recovery of his land, let him be assured of our grace 
and favour," 

"Mac Murchad," writes O'Halloran, "had this proclamation 
frequently read, by sound of trumpet, in Bristol, &lc,., with little 
success, though he offered lands and money to those enlisting under 
his banners. After a month's stay in Bristol, he retired to Wales, 
where he applied to Richard, earl of Strigule, commonly called 
Strongbow, then a powerful and popular chief in Wales, and offered 
him his daughter in marriage, and the reversion of his kingdom 
after his death, which he bound himself by an oath to perform, 
though the contract was void by the laws of the constitution, by the 
fundamentals of which, none could be candidate for the crown of 
Leinster but those of the line of Cathoir, the Great." 

Henry not only gave Dermod this proclamation, but treated him 
with the most marked honour and hospitality, and made him, previous 
to his departure, presents of great value. Dermod, encouraged and 
elated by the friendly assurances of the English monarch, returned 
once more to Bristol, where, for the purpose of enlisting English 
adventurers, he gave the most extended publicity then possible, to 
the king's proclamation, accompanied with his own solemn promise 
of paying all who entered into his service to fight for the recovery 
of his throne and kingdom, not even high pay, but grants of tracts 
of land. These tempting offers attracted the notice of Richard, 
earl of Chepstow, or Pembroke, designated by his countrymen, for 
his courage and valour, " Stronghoio.-'' 

This nobleman had ruined his fortune by dissipation and profli- 
gate pleasures, and besides, he was out of Ring Henry's favour, so 
that he readily, if not cheerfully, engaged to lead his kinsmen, 
Fitzstephen, Fitzgerald, Raymond le' Gross, Prendergast, Mount- 
morres and Barry, as well as all his vassals, to Ireland. 

By the compact drawn up between Dermod and Strongbow, the 
king of Leinster covenanted to give to the earl his only daughter 
and heiress, in marriage, together with his whole territories of Lein- 
ster, after his death. 

As soon as Dermod formed this alliance, so flattering to his hopes 
of recovering the possession of his kingdom, he went to the church 
of St. David's, in Wales, accompanied by his intended son-in-law, 



541 

and there prayed for success, and made a munificent offering at the 
altar. He then, with his followers, embarked for Ireland, having 
previously received positive assurances from Strongbow, and the 
other Welsh chieftains, that they would sail, with all their combined 
foz'ces, for Ireland, early in the ensuing spring. 

"He landed," writes Lawless, " at Wexford, where he lay con- 
cealed in a monastery, until the returning spring brought round the 
period at which the arrival and co-operation of the English allies 
were expected. Roderick, king of Ireland, hearing of the arrival 
of Dermod, immediately marched against the latter, and forced him 
to fly for shelter to the woods. Dermod, sensible of his inability to 
wage so unequal a war with Roderick, submitted to the Irish 
monarch, and gave hostages for his future peaceable and loval 
conduct. Roderick agreed to the terms of submission, and again 
reposed confidence in his fidelity. These pledges of peace had not 
long been given by Dermod to Roderick, when his English allies 
appeared on the coast of Wexford. Robert Fitzstephen, with thirty 
knights, sixty men in armour, and three hundred archers, all chosen 
men of Wales, arrived in Ireland, at Feathard,* in the year 1170. 
The army was reinforced with ten knights, and two hundred archers, 
under the command of Maurice Frendergast, the valiant Welslmian. 
The report of this formidable invasion, (formidable when we con- 
sider the divisions of Ireland) had no sooner circulated throuo-h the 
neighbouring counties, than the old subjects of Dermod conceived 
it expedient to resume their allegiance, and to crowd round his 
standard, with all the ardour of the most zealous loyalty. The 
combined forces marched to Wexford, and the Irish and Ostmen, 
who then governed the town, marched out to meet the enemy. 
The Irish army were compelled to return to the town, and the 
enemy, encouraged by this temporary success, pursued them to the 
gates of the city. The Irish turned upon their pursuers, and drove 
back the enemy with considerable loss. At length the clergy of 
the garrison interposed their mediation between the besieged and 
besiegers, and Wexford was given up to Dermod and Earl Pem- 
broke, who was immediately invested with the lordship of the city 
and domain. Harvy of Mountmauris was also head of two con- 
siderable districts, on the coast between Wexford and Waterford. 
Here was settled the first colony of British inhabitants, differing in 
manners, customs, and language, from the natives, and even to this 
day preserving that difference in a very remarkable degree, not- 
withstanding the lapse of many ages. Dermod immediately pro- 
ceeded, at the head of his combined forces, amounting to 3,000 
men, to lay waste the territory of the prince of Ossory,"(a part of 
Leinster) which he desolated with fire and sword ; and though the 
Irish army made a most heroic resistance to the invader, the supe- 
riority of English discipline and English arms, counterbalanced the 
advantages which the Irish enjoyed from their superior knowledge 

* Feathard, about 81 Irish miles from Dublin, is a very ancient town, of 
respectable appearance, situated on the southern coast of the barony of Shelburne 
county of Wexford. Near this town, at Banna, on the 11th of May, A. D. 1169, the 
first of the English invaders, Lord Robert Fitzstephen, landed, with his followers. 



542 

of the country. Had the hitter patiently remained in the woods and 
morasses, where the English cavalry could not act, they would have 
wearied the courage, and baffled the discipline of the invaders, and 
perhaps would have preserved the independence of their country. 
A reliance on the intrepidity of their soldiers, betrayed them from 
their native situations into the open plains, where they were exposed 
to the superior generalship of the English invader. 

English historians have laboured, with malicious industry, to paint 
the comparative superiority of their countrymen over the wild and 
barbarous natives of Ireland ; and hesitate not to brand with the 
infamous epithets of cruel, and savage, and uncultivated, these 
unoffending people, whose properties the English were desolating, 
whose peace they were disturbing, and on the rights and liberties of 
whose country they were about to trample. 

The vengeance of an unprincipled and exiled Irish monarch found 
refuge in the ambition and avarice of English adventurers ; and the 
miserable and afflicting scenes which the reader of Irish history is 
doomed to wade through, were acted under the specious and insult- 
ing pretext of order, religion and morality — but to proceed. Dermod 
succeeded in bringing to subjection the revolted subjects of his 
government, and prepared to defend himself against the denuncia- 
tions of the Irish monarch, who now began to be alarmed at an 
invasion which he had hitherto viewed with contempt, and without 
apprehension. 

The Irish reader contemplates, with a mixture of gratification 
and melancholy, the picture of magnificence and grandeur which 
the preparations of the monarch of Ireland present to his view, for 
the invasion of the territories of Dermod, and the expulsion of the 
English army, who presumed to violate the independence of Ireland. 
He convened the estates of the nation at Tara, in Meath. He 
ordained new laws, raised and regulated new seminaries, distributed 
splendid donations to the various professors of learning, and assem- 
bled and reviewed the army in presence of the vassal Irish sove- 
reigns, who waited on their uionarch. Dermod, deserted by his 
subjects on the approach of the Irish monarch, fled to his fastnesses 
in Wexford, where he strongly entrenched himself. 

Before Roderick unsheathed his sword, he remonstrated with the 
English leaders on the injustice and cruelty of their invasion ; on 
the shameful and odious connection they had formed with an adul- 
terer, and traitor to his country ; and that the war they were about 
to wage with the Irish, was as impolitic as it was unprincipled; for 
surely, said the monarch of Ireland, Englishmen cannot suppose 
that Ireland will surrender her rights to a foreign power, without a 
dreadful and sanguinary struggle. 

Fitzstephen, the English general, refused to desert his Irish ally, 
and determined to abide the event of the contest. Roderick still 
hesitated, before he would proceed to force ; and at the moment he 
could have crushed this infant effort of the English, to subjugate his 
country, he was solicited by the clergy to enter into a treaty with 
Dermod ; the principal condition of which was, that he should 
immediately dismiss the British, with whom again he was never to 



543 

court an alliance. Soon after this treaty, we find the English 
general, Fitzstephen, building a fort at Carrick,* remarkable for 
the natural strength of its situation. Dermod, supported by his 
English allies, proceeded to Dublin, and laid waste the territories 
surrounding that city with fire and sword. The citizens laid down 
their arms, and supplicated mercy from the cruel and malignant 
enemy. It is the duty of the historian to record that the inhabitants 
of this devoted city found refuge in the mercy of the English 
general, who interposed to allay the fury of Dermod's vengeance. 
Dermod was not inattentive to every opportunity which afforded 
him a pretext to violate the treaty, into which force alone obliged 
him to enter with the Irish monarch. He defended the son-in-law 
of Donald O'Brien, prince of Thomond, against the eftorts of 
Roderick to reduce him to obedience, and again solicited the aid of 
his English allies, to assert the rights of his family, against the 
ambition and pretensions of the Irish monarch. The English 
generals cheerfully obeyed the invitation ; and Roderick, alarmed 
by the rumours of the formidable strength of the allied armies, 
declined, for the present, to curb the licentiousness of the prince of 
Thomond, or to dispute the rights of Dermod to the sovereignty of 
Leinster. 

The son of Dermod was then in the power of Roderick, as an 
hostage for the allegiance of his father. He threatened Dermod 
with the destruction of his child, if he did not instantly return to 
his obedience, dismiss his English allies, and cease to harass and 
disturb his unoffending neighbours. 

Dermod defied the power of Roderick, was careless of the fate of 
his son, and openly avowed his pretensions to the sovereignty of 
Ireland. The head of the young Dermod was instantly struck off 
by order of Roderick. The English continued to spread through 
the country the wide wasting calamities of a sanguinary war ; their 
thirst of blood seemed to increase with the number of their victims, 
and their spirit of destruction with the bountiful productions of* 
nature, which covered the country around them. At length the 
jealousy of the British sovereign awoke, and suspended the fate of 

* Carrick castle, one of the first fortresses erected by the English, is seated 
on a rock overhanging the river Slaney, about two miles to the northwest of 
Wexford town. '' The remains," says Brewer, '* at present, chiefly consist of one 
square and lofty tower. From this vestige it would appear that the building was 
of a rugged character ; and it would indeed be absurd to look for other lineaments 
in the structure erected at a season so pregnant with danger. The loop-holes of 
this ancient tower are unusually small ; and the doorway so low and narrow that 
it cannot be entered without stooping. The bay is here seen to great advantage ; 
and in addition to that lovely expanse of water, the prospect combines a fine 
variety of craggy rock, ascending woodland, and distant mountain." Adjoining 
the ruins of this castle, at Carrickmenan, are the beautiful domain and fine man- 
sion of James Edward Devereaux, Esq., whose ancestors have resided here since 
the beginning of the thirteenth century. Mr. Devereaux was born in the year 
1766, and was one of the most active and influential members of the celebrated 
Catholic committee, who waited, in 1793, on George III., with a petition from the 
Catholics of Ireland. We believe he is still living. When Geoige IV. was 
crowned, Mr. Devereaux asserted, successfully, his claim of carrying the golden 
rod, silver canopy, and sceptre of the dove, supported by four lances, as his ances- 
tors did at the coronation of Richard I. 



544 

this unhappy people ; and the meanest passion of the human mind 
prompted Henry to take those measures which justice should have 
dictated, 

Henry issued his edict, forbidding any future supplies of men or 
of arms to be sent to Ireland, and commanding all his subjects there 
instantly to return. Strongbow immediately despatched Raymond 
to his sovereign, to endeavour to allay his jealousy, and to impress 
his sovereign with the conviction, that whatever they had conquered 
in Ireland, was conquered for Henry, and that he alone was the 
rightful possessor of all those territories which had submitted to the 
arms of Strongbow. Raymond was received with haughtiness and 
distrust by the English monarch, who refused to comply with his 
solicitations. At this period Bishop Becket was murdered ; a cir- 
cumstance which to Henry was a source of bitter affliction. The 
king of Leinster died amidst the triumphs of his allies, despised by 
the English, who took advantage of his treason, and execrated by 
the Irish as an infamous and unprincipled exile. The death of 
this prince was immediately followed by an almost total defection 
of the Irish from the Earl Strongbow. The earl was compelled to 
shut himself up: cut off from supplies, and dejected in spirits, he 
was thus precipitated from the summit of victory, to the lowest 
gradation of distress. This cheering fact flew through Ireland ; 
and the Irish chieftains crowded from all quarters, went from pro- 
vince to province, animatijig the people to one bold and general 
eff<)rt against the common enemy of Irish liberty. 

Lawrence, archbishop of Dublin, distinguished himself on this 
occasion, by the zeal and vigour of his patriotism. The sanctity of 
his character gave weight to his representations. His appeals to 
the insulted spirit of Irish independence were heard with rapture ; 
and an army, composed of men determined to assert the rights of 
Ireland, rose up at his call. Dublin was surrounded on all sides, 
the harbour blocked up, and Strongbow, with an army, which had a 
few weeks back been desolating the fields of Ireland, was threatened 
with annihilation by a powerful and indignant monarch. Roderick 
encamped his troops at Castleknock,* westward of Dublin. 
O'Rourke, of Leitrira, placed himself north of the harbour, near 
Clontarf. The lord of O'Rinselagh occupied the opposite side, while 
the prince of Thomond advanced to Rilmainham, within less than a 
mile from the walls of the metropolis. Even I^awrence, the arch- 
bishop, appeared in arras, animating his countrymen to the defence 
of their liberties against the cruel and desolating invasion of foreign 
adventurers. The English army might now have paid the forfeit of 
the injustice and the cruelty which they practised on the Irish, had 
the latter been animated by one spirit, or directed by one absolute 
commander. Strongbow took advantage of jealousies and rival- 
ships which existed in the Irish army, and, driven by the desperation 
of his circumstances, boldly rushed upon the besieging army, and 

* Castleknock, in the county of Dublin, is about three Irish miles W. from 
the city. In the reign of Henry II., the Tyrells erected a fortified castle here, 
which is now in ruins. There are likewise here the remains of an abbey founded 
by Richard Tyrell, in the twelfth century. 



545 

succeeded in dispersing a force which threatened the besieged with 
annihilation. So confident was the Irish monarch of expelhng from 
his country that proud and insolent force which dared to invade its 
shores, that he rejected with disdain the overtures of Strongbow, 
who proposed to acknowledge Roderick as his sovereign, provided 
the latter would raise the siege. Nothing short of Strongbow's 
departure from Ireland, with all his forces, would appease the 
insulted majesty of Ireland. So humiliating a condition served but 
to rouse from despair the brave and intrepid spirit of Strongbow. 
He made one effort more, which succeeded in rescuing himself and 
his faithful followers from the most distressing difficulties. Strong- 
bow immediately proceeded to Wexford and Waterford, and devoted 
some time, at Ferns, to the exercise of his sovereign authority as 
undisputed king of Leinster. Here he distributed rewards among 
his friends, and inflicted i)unishments on the disaffected. Strong- 
bow was at length summoned to appear before the Biitish monarch, 
who, having conquered all the difficulties with which he had to 
combat, both from foreign and domestic enemies, was alarmed at 
the triumplis of his English subjects in Ireland. The earl obeyed. 
He a})peared before his sovereign, and justified his conduct ; he 
surrendered Dublin, with all the maritime forts and towns, to Henry. 
Strongbow was suffered by the monarch to retain all his Irish 
possessions, to be held by the British sovereign and his heirs. 
O'Rourke, of Brefl'eny, made a vigorous attack on Dublin, which 
was bravely defended by Milo de Cogan, one of the boldest and 
the most intrepid of the English adventurers. O'Rourke lost bis 
son in the attack ; a source of bitter affliction to the Irish army. 
Those extraordinary successes, by an army who were reduced to 
the greatest extremity, impressed the people of Ireland with dreadful 
anticipations of that force, which the English monarch had deter- 
mined to march into their country. The artifices adopted by Henry 
were not less calculated to conciliate, than the fame of his arms and 
his talents were to intimidate. He affected to be incensed at the 
depredations committed by his English subjects on the unoffending 
people of Ireland, and promised this credulous nation, that he would 
inflict oh their oppressors the most exemplary punishment. Such 
professions induced numbers to proffer their submission to Henry, 
and to co-operate with this artful monarch in the conquest of their 
native land. Not less auxiliary to the designs and speculations of 
Henry were the malignant jealousies of the Irish chieftains towards 
each other. Each seemed to think only for his own ambition, for 
his own aggrandizement ; all sacrificed their common country to 
the miserable passions of envy, of jealousy, or of rivalship. Henry, 
with his accustomed talent, seized the opportunity which Irish folly 
afforded him, and determined to invade Ireland with such a force as 
would ensure an easy conquest of this beautiful and fertile country. 
He collected a fleet of 240 ships, which conveyed an army consist- 
ing of 400 knights and 4,000 soldiers, headed by Strongbow." 

Henry, having reduced his rebellious French subjects to obedience, 
and feeling jealous and alarmed at the success of Strongbow in 
Ireland, resolved to visit that country himself, as a conqueror,— and 
69 



546 

with the view of advancing his dominion over a people who were 
reUgiously devoted to the Pope, he despatched liis chaplain, the 
Rev. John Salisbury, to Adrian, the Fourth, an English Pontiff, 
supposed, by all historians, to be his illegitimate brother, to claim 
from his Holiness a Bull to grant to him the sovereignty of Ireland. 
Adrian, flattered at the complimentary letter and presents of so 
powerful a monarch as Henry II., his reputed paternal brother, 
speedily gave his chaplain and ambassador the required base and 
false Bull, of which Dr. Leland gives the following translation : 

"Adrian, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his dearest 
son in Christ, the illustrious king of England, greeting, and apostolic 
benediction. 

Full laudably and profitably hath your magnificence conceived 
the design of propagating your glorious renown on earth, and com- 
pleting your reward of eternal happiness in heaven; while, as a 
Catholic prince, you are intent on enlarging the borders of the 
church, teaching the truth of the Christian faith to the ignorant and 
rude, exterminating the roots of vice from the field of the Lord, and 
for the more convenient execution of this purpose, requiring the 
counsel and favour of the apostolic See. In which, the maturer 
your deliberation, and the greater the discretion of your procedure, 
by so much the happier, we trust, will be your progress, with the 
assistance of the Lord ; as all things are used to come to a pros- 
perous end and issue, which take their beginning from the ardour 
of faith and the love of religion. 

There is indeed no doubt but that Ireland, and all the islands on 
which Christ, the sun of righteousness, hath shone, and which have 
received the doctrines of tlie Christian faith, do belong to the juris- 
diction of St. Peter and of the holy Roman church, as your Excel- 
lency also doth acknowledge. And therefore we are the more 
solicitous to propagate the righteous plantation of fiiith in this land, 
and the branch acceptable to God, as we have the secret conviction 
of conscience that this is more especially our bounden duty. 

You, then, most dear son in Christ, have signified to us your 
desire to enter into the island of Ireland, in order to reduce the 
people to obedience unto laws, and to extirpate the plants of vice ; 
and that you are willing to pay from each house a yearly pension of 
one penny to St. Peter, and that you will preserve the rights of the 
churches of this land whole and inviolate. We therefore, with that 
grace and acceptance suited to your pious and laudable design, and 
favourably assenting to your petition, do hold it good and acceptable, 
that, for extending the borders of the church, restraining the pro- 
gress of vice, for the correction of manners, the planting of virtue, 
and the increase of religion, you enter this island, and execute 
therein whatever shall pertain to the honour of God and welfare of 
the land ; and that the people of this land receive you honourably, 
and reverence you as their lord : the rights of their churches still 
remaining sacred and inviolate ; and saving to St. Peter the annual 
pension of one penny from every house. 

If then you be resolved to carry the design you have conceived 
into effectual execution, study to form this nation to virtuous man- 



547 

ners ; and labour by yourself, and others whom you shall judge 
meet for this work, in faith, word, and life, that the church may be 
there adorned, that the religion of the Cliristian faith may be planted 
and grow up, and that all things pertaining to the honour of God, 
and the salvation of souls, be so ordered, that you may be entitled 
to the fulness of eternal reward from God, and obtain a glorious 
renown on earth throughout all ages." 

"The Bull thus framed," says Leland, " was presented to King 
Henry, together with a ring, the token of his investiture, as rightful 
sovereign of Ireland." 

Before we shall narrate, in our own language, the arrival of 
Henry II., at Waterford, we will quote from McDermott an account 
of the events occurring j)rior to his invasion, and then we will give 
to our readers a biographical memoir of that famous patriot and 
prelate, Archbishop O'Toole. 

"When Dermod had invested the city of Dublin, the inhabitants 
of which were thrown into the utmost consternation, he sent his 
secretary, Maurice Regan, to summon them to surrender ; and to 
demand thirty hostages for the performance of the articles he should 
insist on. The Danish governor, unvvilhng to abide the issue of a 
siege, readily complied with the king of Leinster's demand ; but the 
citizens not agreeing about the hostages. Miles Cogan, one of the 
English generals, who was posted on the other side of the town, 
and who was ignorant of the capitulation, had made such a breach 
in the walls, that his men entered the town, and took possession 
thereof, before the king of Leinster and the governor were apprised 
of their success. They found a great quantity of provisions in the 
city, as well as valuable plunder. Dermod now led his troops 
against O'Rourke, the king of Breffeny, whose wife he had carried 
off, and destroyed with fire and sword, the territory of the man 
whom he had so deeply injured. 

The monarch of Ireland, and all the other chiefs, were by this 
time alarmed at the success of the king of Leinster and his English 
subsidies ; and indeed it is a matter of wonder, that Roderick should 
have given him leisure and opportunity to strengthen himself in this 
manner, and that, at the late peace he had concluded with him, his 
English subsidies should have been permitted to have remained in 
the island. Even now, before the monarch would take the field 
against him, he sent an officer to Dermod, to expostulate with him 
on his perfidyj assuring him that he would send him his son's head, 
lay him under a public interdict, and again oblige him to leave the 
kingdom. Dermod, whose affairs were in such a prosperous condi- 
tion, that his ambition was in a fair way to be gratified, returned 
an answer to Roderick by retorting his threat upon him, that instead 
of dismissing the English, he would send into their country for a 
reinforcement: that he would not lay down his arras, till he liad 
reduced the whole island under his own authority : and that if the 
monarch struck oft' his son's head, or made any of his hostages suff"er, 
he would revenge it by hostilities, which should terminate in the 
destruction of Roderick and all his race. 

Though the monarch of Ireland was both astonished and incensed 



548 

at this reply, yet «pon mature deliberation, he desisted from his 
purpose of executing the hostage, apprehensive, no doubt, of his 
incapability of subduing his enemies. Indeed the fame of the Eng- 
lish generals, and the execution done by the archers, as the cross- 
bow was an instrument of war unknown^ to the Irish, had struck 
such a terror over the island, that the monarch found his authority 
had very much declined. There seems to have been considerable 
inattention, and want of precaution in the government of Ireland at 
this time ; it is true, a synod was held at Armagh, to inquire into 
the cause of the arrival of strangers from England to invade their 
country; and the result of their deliberations ended in this opinion, 
that the sins of the people had subjected them to the vengeance of 
heaven, especially the practice of bringing English children and 
making them slaves.* The author of this revolution, in the midst 
of his great success, the very time that the throne of Ireland was 
almost within his reach, and that he thought himself sure of his 
most sanguine desires, was suddenly arrested by the hand of death, 
which pat an immediate stop to his ambitious career.! 

Immediately on the death of the king of Leinster, the earl of 
Pembroke assumed the government of the province, in right of his 
wife ; or, to speak more truly, by virtue of the formidable army of 
which he was now commander-in-chief. Taking advantage of the 
terror which his arms had spread all over the island, he marched 
to Dublin, to get his right recognized in that capital of his province, 
and of the kingdom. But Roderick, perceiving that none of the 
Irish chiefs adhered to the earl of Pembroke, after the death of 
Dermod, except one of his natural sons, and two petty princes, 
was encouraged to make another attempt against the English. 
Some writers attribute his patriotic zeal to Archbishop Lawrence 
O'Toole, who took infinite pains, they say, to cement a union 
between the chieftains of Ireland, and to animate them to this 
attempt in favour of their country. Roderick accordingly levied a 
great army;]: for the purpose of besieging Dublin. When the earl 
of Pembroke was apprised of the monarch's armament, he was 
determined to make every necessary preparation for his defence ; 
he sent for a reinforcement from the garrison towns, and made 
large promises to such of the Irish as would enlist under his banner. 

^ Cambrensis, bishop of St. David's, who gives this account, adds " that the 
English, by a cornmoa vice of their country, had a custom to sell their children 
and kinsfolks into Ireland, although they were neither in want nor extreme 
poverty." 

t Dermod was certainly a prince of heroic bravery, but that bravery was 
tarnished by cruelty, for his willing sanction of the massacre, by Raymond le' 
Gross, of his prisoners, must ever stamp infamy on his memory. Dr. Leland, in 
his history of Ireland, writes thus of the death of Dermod Macmurrough : — "The 
Irish annalists, by their account of this event, plainly shevv' their detestation of 
the man who, as they express it, first shook the foundation of his country. They 
represent his death as the miraculous effect of divine wrath, poured upon his 
guilty head, at the intercession of every Irish saint. His disease, they say, was 
strange and tremendous, and rendered him an odious and offensive spectacle of 
misery ; that he was deserted in his extremity by every former Iriend, and expired 
without any spiritual comforts, in a state of horrid impenitence." 

t In Regan's account the number is stated to be 60,000, (which Dr. Warner 
observes must be a mistake for 6,000.) and by some English historians 30,000. 



549 

Fitzstephen, governor of Wexford, having detached a party to the 
earl's assistance, the inhabitants thought this a favourable opportu- 
nity of revenging themselves on tliis usurper ; and after a sudden 
and violent attack, several of his men were killed, and the governor 
and five of his officers were taken prisoners. 

The city of Dublin having been environed with the Irish by land 
and sea, and the besieged not being provided with ammunition, 
men or provision, in a sufficient quantity, for any long defence ; 
the earl called a council of war of his principal officers ; and, repre- 
senting to them the great force of the Irisli, and their own embar- 
rassed circumstances, proposed to offer terms of capitulation to the 
monarch, by the archbishop of Dublin, Lawrence, to submit and 
hold Leinster as a feudatory prince under Roderick, if he would 
raise the siege and march off with his army. The earl's proposals 
having been agreed to, the archbishop was forthwith employed to 
treat with the monarch on these terms. Roderick's answer, how- 
ever, was, that unless the earl of Pembroke would surrender to him 
the cities of Dublin, Waterford,* and Wexford, with all his forts and 
castles, and on a day agreed upon, abandon the island with all the 
English, he would instantly make the assault, and take the place by 
storm. It is evident that Roderick was not destitute of spirit and 

* Waterford. Tiie city of Waterford, which is prosperous, patriotic and 
pretty, is situated on the south side of the river Suir, at the distance of 8 miles 
from the sea, and DCfrora Dublin. We have before given a historic ske'tch of the 
founder of its episcopal see. The junction of the rivers Nore, Suir and Barrow, 
forms the fine and spacious harbour of Waterford. This ancient and celebrated 
city, which was first built in the year 879, was the landing place of Henry II., in 
A. D. 1172,— of Richard II., A. D. 1399,— and from it, James II., after the dis- 
astrous battle of the Boyne, sailed for France. There are fine and spacious archi- 
tectural ornaments in Waterford, particularly the court-house, exchange, cusiom- 
house, Catholic and Protestant churches, and the theatre. There are several 
steam packets now (1836) plying between Waterford and Liverpool. In Water- 
ford are many noble and affecting ruins of abbeys and castles. Reginald's 
TOWER, built, accoraing to the accounts of our annalists, by a Danish chief, whose 
name it bears, in the tenth century. An Irish antiquarian writes thus of Regi- 
nald's tower: — " After the successful storming of the town by the English forces 
of Earl Strongbow, led on by the redoubtable Raymond le' Gross, in 1171, when 
the city was plundered, and all the inhabitants found in arms were put to the sword, 
another Reginald, then prince of the Danes of Waterford, and Malachy O'Phealan, 
prince of the Deasies, with several other chiefs who had confederated to resist 
the invaders, and were made prisoners in the combat, were imprisoned in this 
tower, until their ultimate fate should be determined upon. They were condemned 
to death, — but saved by the intercession of King Dermod Macmurrough, who, 
with Fitzstephen, and many other English and Welsh gentlemen, came to Water- 
ford to be present at the marriage of Earl Strongbow with the Princess Eva, the 
king of Leinster's daughter." There is no quay in Ireland so magnificent and 
spacious as that of Waterford. It is an English mile in length, rnargined by a 
marble promenade, where al! the beauty and fashion of the city can be seen in 
animated movement. To this quay vessels of 800 tons may safely come up, as 
the harbour, even at low water, is always 40 feet deep. In the year 1793, a noble 
wooden bridge was thrown across the Suir here, by a Mr. Samuel Cox, of 
Boston. On one of the centre piers is the following inscription: — " In 1793, a 
year rendered sacred to national prosperity by the extinction of religious divisions, 
the foundation of this bridge was laid, at the expense of associated individuals, 
united by parliamentary grants, by Sir John Newport, Baronet, chairman of 
their committee. Mr. Samuel Cox, a native of the city of Boston, in America, 
architect." Waterford is famous for the excellence of its glass manufacture. 
Boston, June 30, 1836. 



550 

resolution ; and mindful of Derinod's violation of the treaty which 
he had formerly made, he probably deemed his present enemy 
equally dishonourable. At all events he found that the English 
were dismayed at the superior number of his troops, and he flat- 
tered himself that he should derive considerable advantages from 
their fears. 

When the archbishop reported the monarch's conditions to the 
English council of war, they'who had so lately been conquerors, 
and elated with their triumphs, became all of a sudden humble and 
dejected: they were loth to submit to terms so ignominious, and yet 
they entertained no hopes of success. Miles Cogan, perceiving 
their despondency, roused them with this spirited address : ' Though 
we are few in number, we are valiant : our best remedy is to make 
a sally, which is least suspected by the enemy ; and, I hope, in the 
goodness of God, that we shall have the victory, or at least die with 
honour. My request therefore is, that I may be appointed the first 
to commence the attack.' Encouraged by the intrepidity of this 
man, the generals were directed to draw up their men with all 
possible expedition. The command of the van-guard was assigned 
to Cogan, as he desired, the centre to Raymond le Gross, and the 
rear to the earl of Pembroke, each body consisting only of two 
hundred men : for the Irish, of whose fidelity they had no opinion, 
were left behind in the garrison. They accordingly directed their 
march, and, as Regan states, they broke furiously into the enemy's 
camp, and made such a slaughter that all fled before them, one 
hundred and fifty* of the Irish having been killed, and only one 
man on the side of the English. It appears that Roderick's nume- 
rous forces were exceedingly careless, and as, 

' It is the curse of fools to be secure,' 

they were obliged to abandon their camp with all their baggage and 
provision. 

The city of Dublin being still in the possession of the English, 
the earl of Pembroke left it under the care of Cogan, and marched 
towards Wexford, to reFease his friend, Fitzstephen, and the officers 
who had been taken prisoners with him. But the inhabitants, 
having been apprised of his approach, set the town on fire, after 
they had taken away the prisoners and their best effects ; and 
removed to an island in its neighbourhood, where they knew them- 
selves to be secure. Thus the earl's intention was entirely frus- 
trated ; and, during his march, he was attacked by O'Ryan, the 
chief of a territory through which he passed ; and should probably 
have been defeated, had not O'Ryan been killed by a monk in the 
earl's army ; at whose fall the Irish were so disconcerted that they 
retreated from the field. Here the earl's only son, as we are in- 
formed by some ancient English writers, a youth of seventeen years 
of age, was so terrified at the numerous army of the Irish, that he 

* This inconsiderable loss out of 60,000 men, as stated by Regan, evidently 
proves his calculation to be erroneous : and supposing the number to be 30,000, 
as stated by Hume, &c. &c., it is an incredible victory for only six hundred men 
to obtain, notwithstanding the advantage they had in discipline and arms. 



551 

fled towards Dublin; but on hearing of his father's victory, he 
returned to congratulate him ; when the earl caused him to be 
immediately executed for his cowardice, by being cut in two with a 
sword. Such a savage act cannot be recorded of the Irish even in 
their most barbarous days ; and far exceeds the unnatural practice 
before mentioned of selhng their English children to the Irish ! 

When the extraordinary success of the English generals was 
reported to Henry, tlie king of England became exceedingly alarmed 
and jealcjus. He imagined that they would be able only to recover 
the king of Leinster's regalities ; and, if they attempted any thing 
further upon that success, that tliey would be obliged to apply to 
him for assistance, which would furnish him with a pretence of 
going over to Ireland himself, and effecting a conquest, which he 
had long meditated. When told that Dermod was dead — that the 
earl of Pembroke had seized upon the province of Leinster, and 
that he and his generals daily added to their number of victories, he 
began to suspect that they would make themselves nnasters of a 
country which he intended for himself, and he instantly prepared 
to attack Ireland in person. First of all he published a proclama- 
tion, that no ship or vessel should go to any part of Ireland with 
ammunition or provision, or to carry on any commerce of any kind; 
and at the same time requiring all his subjects in that kingdom, of 
whatever rank or degree, to return home immediately, upon the 
penalty of forfeiting all their estates and effects in England, and of 
being declared rebels and traitors. This proclamation, which was 
issued under the pretence, that the adventurers had engaged in the 
undertaking without his royal permission, had the desired effect; 
for though the generals were unwilling to relinquish advantajjfes, 
which were far greater than any they had to expect in England ; 
yet they were afraid of exasperating a king, who, they well knew 
had the ability, and would not want the inclination of crushing them 
effectually. They immediately sent Raymond le' .Gross over to 
make their submission to his majesty, and to assure him that they 
were so far from having any intention of withdrawing their allegiance 
from him, that all the conquests they had made were effected in his 
majesty's name, and should all be subject to his authority. But 
this subn)ission did not content King Henry ; and Raymond was 
sent back with letters to the earl of Pembroke, requiring him to 
repair to England without delay, and give an account of his conduct 
in person to his majesty. Though the progress of his arms in Ire- 
land must have been retarded by his absence, the earl durst not 
disobey his majesty's summons. When he came into the king's 
presence, he pleaded his permission to espouse the cause of Dermod ; 
and after giving him a full account of affairs in Ireland, he offered 
to deliver up to Henry the possession of Dublin, Waterford, Wex- 
ford, and all the seaports, and other places they had conquered ; 
and to hold all their acquisitions in vassalage to his crown. Henry 
approved of these conditions, and sent the earl back into Ireland, 
with an assurance of following him immediately, to complete the 
conquest of the island." 

Lawrence O'Toole, then, A. D. 1172, archbishop of Dublin, 



553 

was, of course, possessed of great influence in Ireland, as might 
justly be expected from his high episcopal dignity and character. 
A biographical memoir, therefore, of that illustrious prelate, who 
acted so prominent a part in the transactions of this period, will, 
we think, add to the interest of this history. St. Lawrence O'Toole 
was the son of Prince Maurice O'Toole, of Wicklow, and was born 
at Imaly, near Rathdrum, in that county, about the year 1124. At 
the age of ten, after receiving the rudiments of his education from 
the prior of Gleiidalogh, his father was constrained to surrender 
him as an hostage to the tyramiic Dermod, king of Leinster. The 
despotic and depraved king treated the boy with relentless cruelty. 
As soon as his father heard of Lawrence's treatment he waited on 
the bishop of Glendalogh, and complained, in severe terms of re- 
proach, of the king's barbarity to his son. The pious bishop waited 
on King Dermod, and by his feeling remonstrance persuaded the 
oppressor to entrust Lawrence to his care. Under the instruction 
of the pious and learned prelate of Glendalogh, (the vale of the two 
lakes) he became perfectly conversant with classic literature and 
scholastic theology. Having thus completed his education, he 
returned to his paternal home, accompanied by his episcopal 
preceptor. The father, during the visit, mentioned to the friendly 
bishop that, as Butler relates, he " intended to cast lots to ascertain 
which of his four sons he should destine to the service of the 
church. Lawrence, who was present, was justly startled at such a 
mad and superstitious project, but glad to find so favourable an 
overture to his desires, cried out with great earnestness, '^ there is no 
need of casting lots,—fo?- it is my most hearty desire to have for my 
inheritance no other portion than God in the service of the church.' 
Hereupon, the father, taking him by the hand, offered him to God, 
by delivering him to the good bishop, in whose hands he left him, 
having first recommended him to St. Comegen, or Kevin, the 
founder of the great monastery there, and patron of the diocess 
which has been since united to the see of Dublin." 

The Rev. Alran Butler, in his Lives of the Saints, speaks thus 
of Archbishop O'Toole : — " Gregory, the archbishop of Dublin,* 
happening to die about the time that this saint was thirty years of 
age, he was unanimously chosen to fill that metropolitical see, and 

* Donat was probably tlie first bishop of this see after the conversion of the 
infidels: lie died in 1074. His successor, Gilla Patrick, was drowned at sea in 
1084, and was succeeded by Dongus O'llaingly, who died in 1095, of a pestilence 
called " Teasach." His successor, Samuel O'Haingly, died in 11.21 ; and St. 
Celsus, bishop of Armagh, was appointed guardian of the spiritualities of the see 
of Dublin, before the election of Gregory, who died the 8th of October, 1161, and 
was succeeded by St. Lawrence O'Toole. It was in the. year 1152, nine years 
before Gregory's death, that Cardinal John Paparo, legate of Pope Eugenius 111., 
conterred on this see the archiepiscopal dignity, having brought from Rome four 
palls for four metropolitans in Ireland, and assigned respective suffragans to each. 
The four metropolitan sees are, Armagh in the province of Ulster, Dublin in 
Leinster, Cashel in Munster, and Tuam in Connaught. Between the two first a 
controversy had continued for a considerable time concerning precedence ; but, 
according to Harris, it was at length finally determined both by papal and regal 
authority, that the archbishop of Armagh sliould be entitled " Primaie of all Ire- 
land," and the archbishop of Dublin " Primate of Ireland ;" like Canterbury and 
York in England. 



553 

was consecrated in 1162, by Gelasius, archbishop of Armagh, and 
successor of St. Malachy. In this exalted station he watched over 
his see and his flock with fear, and with unwearied application to 
every part of his office, having always before his eyes the account 
which he was to give to the sovereign pastor of souls. His first 
care was to reform the manners of his clergy, and to furnish his 
church Vt'ith worthy ministers. His exhortations to others were 
most powerful, because enforced with sweetness and vigour, ani- 
mated with an apostolic spirit, and strongly impressed by the 
admirable example of his own life, which every one who had any 
sparks of piety in his breast, was ashamed to see himself fall so 
infinitely short of About the year 1163, he engaged the secular 
canons of his cathedral of the Holy Trinity,* to receive the rule of 
the regular canons of Arouasia, an abbey which was founded in the 
diocess of Arras, about fourscore years before, with such reputation 
for sanctity and discipline, that it became the head or mother house 
of a numerous congregation. This saint took himself the religious 
habit, which he always wore under his pontifical attire. He usually 
eat with the religious in the refectory, observed their hours of 
silence, and always assisted with them at the midnight office ; after 
which he continued a long time in the church in private prayer 
before a crucifix, and towards break of day went to the burial-place 
to pour forth certain prayers for the souls of the faithful departed. 
He never eat flesh, and fasted all Fridays on bread and water, and 
oftentimes without taking any sustenance at all. He wore a rough 
hair shirt, and used frequent disciplines. Every day he entertained 
at table thirty poor persons, and often many more, besides great 
numbers which he maintained in private houses. All found him a 
father both in their temporal and spiritual necessities ; and he was 
most indefatigable in the sacred functions of his charge, especially 
in announcing assiduously to his flock the word of life. To watch 
over, and examine more narrowly into his own heart and conduct, 
and to repair his interior spirit, he used often to retire for some 
days into some close solitude. When he was made bishop, Ring 
Dermod Mac Murchad perferred to the abbey of Glendalogh one so 
notoriously unworthy of that dignity that he was in a short time 
expelled, and Thomas, a nephew of the saint, by whom he had been 
brought up, was canonically elected. By the care of this young, 
pious and learned abbot, discipline and piety again flourished in 
that house. And from that time St. Lawrence frequently made 
choice of Glendalogh, for his retreats : but he usually hid himself 
in a solitary cave, at some distance from the monastery, between a 
rock and a deep lake, in which St. Coeragen had lived. When this 

* This church was built for secular canons, in the centre of tlie city, by Sitricus, 
king of the Ostraen in Dublin, and Bishop Donat, in 1038. The change made 
by St. Lawrence continued until Henry VIll., in 1541, converted it into a Dean 
and Chapter; from which time it hath taken the name of Christ Church, being 
before called the Church of the Holy Trinity. The principal cathedral of Dublin 
is dedicated under the invocation of St. Patrick, and was built in the south 
suburbs of the city, by Archbishop Comyn, in 1190, on the same spot where an 
old parochial church had long stood, which was said to have been erected by St. 
Patrick. 

70 



554 

saint came out of these retreats he seemed like another Moses 
coming from conversing with God, full of a heavenly fire and divine 
light. 

St. Lavsrence found the greatest part of his flock so blinded with 
the love of the world, and enslaved to their passions, that the zealous 
pains he took seemed lost upon them. He threatened them with 
the divine judgment in case they did not speedily and effectually 
reform their manners by sincere repentance : but like Noah when he 
preached to a world drowned in sin, he seemed to them to speak in 
jest, until they were overtaken on a sudden by those calamities 
which he had foretold, which served to purify the elect, and doubt- 
less brought many who, before, had been deaf to the saint's remon- 
strances, to a sense of their spiritual miseries." 

Befoi-e the arrival of Ring Henry II., the archbishop of Dublin, 
with humane, charitable and patriotic zeal, endeavoured to dissuade 
Roderick, the monarch, from attacking the English invaders, and 
promised to prevail on them to return to their own country. 
The English chieftains, perceiving what a mighty influence the 
archbishop of Dublin had with his countrymen, paid, through policy, 
the most servile obedience to that prelate. Strongbow, Fitzstephen, 
Miles Cogan, Fitzgerald, Barry and Pepper, (or Peppard, our 
remote ancestor) bent the knee of hypocritical sycophancy before 
the archbishop of Dublin, and contributed large sums of money to 
enlarge Christ's Church, in Dublin. But on the arrival of Henry 
II. at Waterford, and on his promulgating, as the authority of his 
invasion, the Bull of Adrian IV., the bishop of Dublin became justly 
indignant at the falsehoods put forth in that document against his 
beloved country. 

"What !" said he, with anger, to Fitzstephen, "is it possible that 
his Holiness should charge us, Irish Catholics, with a want of 
religion, — they, who have, from the mission of St. Patrick, down to 
the present day, been the devoted and enthusiastic servants of the 
see of Rome. My Lord Fitzstephen, tlie love of country, an abhor- 
rence of a calumny which is vilely libellous on our character, 
emboldens me to say, that I am ready to be suspended at the will 
of his Holiness ; but, ray lord, all the popes that ever lived, could 
not make me a traitor to my loved country. And I will shew that 
neither King Henry nor Pope Adrian, will be able to shake my 
resolution, — religion, it is true, is dear to me — heaven knows how 
dear ! — but the liberty of my own native country is still dearer ! 
My lord, you are at full liberty to communicate my sentiments to 
the Sovereign Pontiff, because, as an ecclesiastic, he can dispose of 
me as he may like ; but as an Irishman, whose heart treasures the 
image of Ireland, an archangel could not estrange my affection from 
my own beloved Erin." Fitzstephen, of course, communicated 
the daring sayings of the archbishop to his master, Henry, — and 
there can be no doubt but that jealous and envious monarch con- 
veyed them to the Pope. The love of country made this good and 
excellent bishop brave and bold. Dr. Leland, a bigoted Protestant 
historian of Ireland, eulogizes Archbishop O'Toole as follows : — 
" Lawrence, archbishop of Dublin, whose erudition and sanctity of 



555 

character gave weight to his representations, flew from province to 
province, to every inferior district, and to every chieftain, entreating, 
exhorting, and commanding them to seize the present opportunity — 
to take arms against a common enemy, and to exterminate the 
dangerous foreigners, now worn out by their distresses, and ready 
to sink for ever under the first vigorous assault. Not contented 
with raising a spirit of indignation and valour in his countrymen, — 
the political, patriotic and indefatigable prelate, in conjunction with 
Roderick, the monarch, despatched emissaries to Gothred, king of 
the Isle of Man, as well as to other princes of the northern isles, 
who made the most affecting representations of the cruelty and 
ambition of the Britons, whom no bounds could restrain, — entreat- 
ing their assistance against an enemy who would not confine their 
injurious attempts to Ireland, but extend their usurpations — and at 
last fall, with their whole weight, on those who now seemed most 
remote from danger." 

When Henry landed in Waterford, and learned that the arch- 
bishops of Armagh and Cashel, Gelasius and Lawrence, were, as 
patriots, hostile to him, and justly incensed at the falsehoods set 
forth in Pope Adrian's bull, he began to become alarmed for the 
success of his expedition to Ireland. Our historians all agree that 
Gelasius, a prelate held in great respect by the Irish, the then pri- 
mate of Armagh, refused to attend the synod of the Irish clergy called 
by Henry, at Cashel, county of Tipperary, over which Christian, 
the then bishop of Lismore, the pope's legate, presided. " The pre- 
late's of Ulster followed," writes Dr. Leland, "the example of their 
revered metropolitan. And if the prelate of Tuam, or Lawrence of 
Dublin, who had so zealously contended against the English, obeyed 
the summons, they might have deemed their presence necessary to 
preserve the honour of their church, to them a point of moment, 
from injurious representation, — and by a readiness to correct what 
might really be found amiss to deprive the invader of the great 
pretence for extending his hostilities." In the year 1179, Archbishop 
Lawrence, in obedience to the summons of Pope Alexander III., 
repaired to Rome, where he so ably and eloquently vindicated the 
religious character of the Irish people, before the pontiff" and court 
of cardinals, that his Holiness conferred on him the exalted dignity 
of legate for Ireland. Henry II., who looked upon the archbishop 
with an eye of malignant jealousy, felt grieved and mortified when he 
heard of the distinguished honour with which the pope dignified him. 

At the earnest and especial request of the pope, the archbishop 
of Dublin attended at the famous council of Lateran, held in the 
year 1179, and had the honour of preaching an eloquent Latin 
sermon there, which, by the brilliancy of its style, excited the admi- 
ration of the pontiff" and assembled prelates. " As soon as St. 
Lawrence returned home to his see," writes the Rev. Mr. Butler, 
in the Lives of the Saints, " he began vigorously to execute his 
legantine power by reforming the manners of the clergy, and making 
wholesome regulations. He found the whole country then (A. D. 
1179) afl[licted with a terrible famine, which continued to prevail 
and rage for three years. In consequence, this pious and benevo- 



556 

lent saint laid himself under an obligation of feeding every day 
fifty strangers, and three hundred of poor persons of his own 
diocess, besides many others whom he furnished with clothes, 
victuals, and the other necessaries of life." The prelate, desirous 
of reconciling Roderick and Henry to each other, set out for Nor- 
mandy, where an insurrection had suddenly called the British 
monarch. Haughty and despotic as King Henry no doubt was, he 
yet was induced to listen with attention to the mediation and advice 
of a prelate so eminent for knowledge, popularity and sanctity, as 
Archbishop O'Toole, and to enter into a compact highly favourable 
and advantageous for Roderick. On the departure of the bishop. 
King Henry, as a token of his regard, presented him with a diamond 
ring of great value. 

Thus dismissed by Henry, the archbishop set out on his journey, 
but had not proceeded farther than the abbey of Eue, near the 
confines of Normandy, when he was seized with a malignant fever 
which terminated his earthly career on the 14th of November, A. 
D. 1180, in the seventy-third year of his age. This illustrious 
prelate was canonized by Pope Honorius, in A. D. 1227, and his 
relics were enshrined by the archbishop of Rouen. Sir James 
Ware says, " that part of his relics were translated to Christ's 
Church, in Dublin." 

'* Henry proclaimed," says Leland, " that the professed design of 
his expedition was not to conquer, but to take possession of a coun- 
try granted to him by the pope, and to exercise a sovereignty which 
he affected to believe must be acknowledged and obeyed without 
the least difficulty or reluctance.* 

Amidst the acclamations of joy at the arrival of this new sove- 
reign. Earl Strongbow made a formal surrender of Waterford, and 
did homage to Henry for the principality of Leinster. The men of 
Wexford were at hand with their prisoner Fitzstephen, whom they 
presented to the king, repeating their accusations, and imploring 
justice against their tyrant and oppressor. Henry received them 
with an affected commiseration of their wrongs, too gross to impose 
on any but the rude and inexperienced ; assured them of his protec- 
tion, and sternly reproaching Fitzstephen for his presumption, 
remanded him to prison. The Irish were rejoiced to find that they 
had not only escaped the punishment due to their boldness and 
cruelty, but that they had involved their enemy in danger and dis- 

* This was tlie idea which the Irish subjects of later times entertained. Tliere 
was a tradition in the reign of Edward, the Second, which though not unexcep- 
tionably estabUshed, yet shews what were their conceptions at that period. It 
was said that while Henrj^'s fleet was yet at sea, an Ostman lord of Waterford, 
who supposed that the descent must be made upon his lands, and was solicitous 
to secure his property from depredation, drew some chains across the harbour, in 
order to divert the fleet to some other quarter ; that as the obstacle was soon 
overcome, Henry, immediately on his landing, seized this lord and his accomplices, 
whose crime was that they had presumed to treat him as an invader, not as the 
rightful sovereign of Ireland ; that he therefore dealt with them not as enemies 
who had acted in a fair course of open war, but as rebellious subjects ; that they 
were tried in what he called the king's court, the act of rebellion proved, and 
sentence of high treason executed upon them, Placit. Coronaj 4 Edv. II. Turr. 
Bermingh. 



557 

grace ; and Fitzstephen was the less mortified, as he well knew the 
purchase of his liberty, and that he must of necessity resign all his 
Irish acquisitions to the king. 

The fame of his intended expedition had for sometime been 
spread through Ireland, and its influence upon the several toparchs 
was soon discovered. Derraod Mac-Arthy, prince of Desmond, was 
the first chieftain who submitted and acknowledged the sovereignty 
of Henry. On the very day after his arrival, this Irish prince 
attended at his court, resigned his city of Cork to the king, did him 
homage, and stipulated to pay a tribute for the rest of his territory, 
which on these conditions he was to enjoy without further molesta- 
tion or restraint. An English governor and garrison were imme- 
diately appointed to take possession of his capital, while the king 
displayed his power and magnificence by marching to Lismore, 
where he chose a situation, and gave the necessary orders and 
directions for building a fort. From thence proceeding to Cashel, 
we are told he had an interview with the archbishop of this see ; 
and possibly might have deemed it useful to possess this prelate, the 
first of the Irish clergy who appeared before him, with an opinion 
of his gracious intentions to his country, and his zeal for the regu- 
lations of its church. Nor wei'e these short excursions without their 
influence, in striking the inhabitants with an awful and terrible 
impression of his power. A formidable army hovering about the 
districts of each petty chieftain, when each was left to his own 
resources for defence, quickened their resolves, and conquered 
every remains of pride, or reluctance in submitting to the invader. 
O'Brien of Thomond, thought it dangerous to delay, and meeting 
Henry on the banks of the Suir, surrendered his city of Limerick, 
and did homage for his other territory, engaging to pay him tribute. 
Donchad of Ossory, dreading the advantages which his rival might 
acquire by this forward zeal, hastened to the king, and submitted 
to become his tributary and vassal. O'Fhelan of the Decies followed 
these examples, and all the inferior chiefs of Munster vied with 
each other in the alacrity of their submissions. All were received 
with gracious assurances of favour and protection, entertained with 
magnificence, loaded with presents, and dismissed with deep impres- 
sions of the grandeur and condescensions of this powerful monarch. 

He returned to Wexford ; and here, as it was no longer necessary 
to keep up the appearance of resentment to Fitzstephen, his barons 
were permitted to intercede for a brave subject, who had not willingly 
or intentionally ofiiended, for whose future fidelity they were all 
ready to become sureties, and who was himself prepared to give the 
best surety for his allegiance, by a formal resignation of all his 
Irish possessions to his sovereign. Fitzstephen was set at liberty, 
and surrendered Wexford and its territory to the king, doing- 
homage for the rest of his acquisitions, which he was allowed to 
retain from Henry and his heirs. 

And now, having provided for the security of Munster, and 
stationed his garrisons in the cities of Limerick, Cork, Waterford 
and Wexford, Henry determined to proceed to Dublin, to take 
possession of this city in due form, which had been surrendered by 



558 

Earl Richard. He led his troops through Ossory in a slow and 
stately progress, so as to strike the rude inhabitants with the splen- 
dour and magnificence of his royal army, and to give their chieftains 
an opportunity of repairing to his camp, and acknowledging his 
sovereignty. Their indifference to the interests of Roderick, as 
well as their terror of the English arms, soon determined them to 
make their peace with Henry. The Irish lords of Leinster deemed 
his service more honourable than a subjection to Strongbow, whose 
severity had rendered him an object of horror to the Irish, even 
from his first landing. As he advanced towards Dublin, the neigh- 
bouring lords all appeared and submitted ; O'Carroll of Orgial, a 
chieftain of still greater power and consequence, repaired to his 
camp, and in due form engaged to become his tributary ; and to 
complete the mortification of Roderick, his old and intimate asso- 
ciate, O'Rourke of BrefFeny, whose interests he had supported, 
whose personal injuries he had revenged, whom he had made lord 
of a considerable part of Meath, so that Giraldus calls him king of 
Meath, abandoned his falling friend and ally, and became the willing 
vassal of this new sovereign." 

Roderick, though deserted by the greater number of the provin- 
cial princes, and deranged by the dissensions and disaffections of 
some of the members of his own family, still assumed the proud 
attitude and spirit becoming the monarch of Ireland, and indignantly 
refused to listen to any overtures of dependence which Henry had 
made to him, while his devoted soldiers of Connaught remained 
faithful, and enabled him to contend bravely in the battle field for 
crown and life. Collecting all the forces he could, he took up his 
position in an entrenched camp on the banks of the Shannon, where 
he determined to await the approach of the invading foes. His 
unflinching and spirited independence exasperated King Henry, who, 
on the return of the messengers whom he sent to Roderick, ordered 
Hugh de Lacy and Fitzadelm, two valiant English knights, to march 
with a formidable army, to reduce the obstinate and contumacious 
monarch of Ireland to subjection and vassalage. After Henry had 
sojourned three months in Dublin, where he sumptuously feasted, 
and cunningly cajoled the credulous Irish princes who had submitted 
to his regal sway,* he received notice of the threatened insurrection 
of Henry, his eldest son, and of his second, afterwards Richard I., — 
the execrations that were every where fulminated against him as the 
instigator of the murder of Archbishop Becket, and the information 
that two cardinals had arrived in England to excommunicate him for 

* " Henry left no arts unpractised to seduce the Irish chieftains from their 
allegiance due to the monarch, Roderick. He dazzled the eyes of the people by 
the splendour of his hospitality, — he deceived them by the most conciliating 
expressions of kindness — he intoxicated the base and degraded Irishmen by the 
magnitude of his professions, — and consoled the afflicted and depressed spirits of 
a subjugated people, by a perpetual round of costly pleasures, of empty, though 
magnificent pageantry. Such, for more than six hundred years, has been the 
insidious practice of England towards this devoted country, — the hospitality of 
the viceroy's table put into the scale against the miserable consequence of a 
narrow policy, which full of jealousy and terror, cramps the industry, corrupts the 
morals, and encourages the most vicious and unprincipled propensities of our 
nature." — Lawless. 



559 

being an accomplice in that cruel and atrocious deed, which greatly 
alarmed him, and warned him of the necessity of returning imme- 
diately to England, with all possible expedition. 

He took his departure from Dublin in the spring of 1173, embarked 
at Wexford, on the feast of Easter, in that year. Prior to his sailing, 
he appointed Earl Strongbow, in conjunction with Raymond le' 
Gross, chief governors of such of the Irish districts as then recog- 
nized his authority ; for over the west of Ireland, under Roderick, 
he had no control, — and the gallant and patriotic chieftains of 
Ulster presented a brave and bold front to the Saxon invaders. 

To all his principal officers, before embarking, he made large 
grants of land — he invested De Lacy with the lordship of Meath, 
and the governorship of the city of Dublin — to Maurice Fitzgerald, 
the ancestor of the duke of Leinster, he assigned domains — and 
bestowed on John de Courcy a deed of the whole of the principality 
of Ulster, in the event of his being able to possess himself of it by 
the power of his arms, and the right of conquest. He caused all 
the territories under English domination, in Ireland, to be divided 
into counties and baronial districts, and sheriffs to be appointed for 
the shires, cities and towns. He recommended that several strong 
castles and embanked forts, should be erected, not only within the 
walls of Dublin, but in every approach to it from the country. " Sir 
John Davies observed," says Mr. Lawless, " that Henry II. left not 
one true or faithful subject behind him in Ireland, more than he 
found when he first landed. A small interval of time elapsed, until 
the old animosities and jealousies of the Irish chieftains broke out 
with their accustomed fury, and, impatient of the yoke to which 
they had submitted, manifested a disposition to rebel against the 
authority to which they had so lately and so reluctantly subjected 
themselves." The departure of the king convinced the English 
chieftains that to hold their conquests and possessions, they had 
solely and absolutely to depend on their own resources, resolution, 
and valour, and that they had a fierce, brave and determined 
enemy in those justly offended Irish toparchs who were ejected by 
force of arms, from their lands and patrimonies ; so that they made 
every preparation, and employed every defensive expedient which 
they judged calculated to protect them from a hostile attack, or a 
sudden surprise. 

Before Henry set out for Windsor, in order to propitiate the just 
wrath of Pope Alexander, for the murder of Bishop Becket, he 
made, it is said, a pilgrimage, barefooted, to the cathedral of St. 
David's, where, we fear, he only affected an expression of penitence 
and humble devotion, to impose on the holy father, and for the 
purpose of reinstating himself in the good graces of the court of 
Rome. In England every tongue was loud, bitter and violent in 
denouncing him as the cruel employer of the assassins of Arch- 
bishop Becket,* so that with his (late rebel) son Henry, he set off 

* As the history of Henry II. unfortunately is closely identified with that of 
Ireland, we extract, in this note, Dr. Lingard's luminous and interesting account 
of the assassination of the archbishop of Canterbury. The good prelate boldly 
censured Henry for his adulterous intercourse with " the fair Rosamond," and 
his cruel imprisonment of his Queen Eleanor. For doing this warranted, eccle- 



560 

for France to avoid the overwhelming storm of public indignation 
and hostile opinion, which impended over his head. On his arrival 
in Normandy, he met the cardinals, whose, perhaps, arbitrary 
demands of penance and submission to the court of Rome, he at 
first sternly and haughtily rejected, "observing to them," says Dr. 
O'Halloran, " when they threatened him with excommunication, — 
" By the eyes of God ! (his common oath) I neither regard you nor 
your excommunications, any more than I do an egg !" But in a 
short time, a regard for his own interest, and a consideration of the 
slippery and untenable grounds on which his now tottering power, 
both in England and France, rested, made him change the clamor- 
ous notes of his lofty arrogance to the prayers of humility and peni- 
tence. He meekly signified to the cardinals his entire readiness 
and ardent desire of submitting to any penance, no matter how 
mortifying, which the pope might think proper to impose upon 
him, — declared that he had resolved, if the sovereign pontiff" would 
annul the decree of excommunication, and confirm to him the grant 
of Ireland, made by Adrian iV., to make a pilgrimage to the tomb 
of the martyred archbishop, at Canterbury, and to conduct himself 
as a religious and devoted son of the church. By these specious 
and beguiling assurances, he ingratiated himself in the good opinion 
of the cardinals, on whose favourable representations Pope Alex- 

siastical, and highly moral duty, as a Christian prelate, Henry marked him out 
for the object of his vengeance. " On the following Tuesday after Christmas 
day, December 28, 1171, arrived secretly in the neighbourhood," writes Dr. 
Lingard, " four knights, Reginald Fitzure, William Tracy, Hugh de Morre- 
yille, and Richard Brito. They had been present in Normandy when the king, 
irritated by the representations of the three bishops, had exclaimed, — ' of the 
cowards who eat my bread, is there not one who will free me from this turbu- 
lent priest .''' And mistaking this passionate expression for the royal license, 
they bound themselves by oath to return to England, and either carry off or 
murder the primate. Pretending to have received their commission from Henry, 
they ordered the primate, whose apartment they had abruptly entered, to absolve 
the excommunicated prelates. He replied in the negative with firmness, and 
occasionally with warmth. * * * When they were gone his attendants loudly 
expressed their alarm : he alone remained cool and collected, and neither in his 
tone nor gesture betrayed the slightest symptom of apprehension. In this 
moment of suspense the voices of the monks singing vespers in the choir, struck 
his ears, — and it occurred to some one that the church was a place of greater 
security than the palace. The archbishop was borne along by the pious impor- 
tunities of his friends. » * * « When he heard the gates close behind him, 
he instantly ordered them to be re-opened, saying, ' that the temple of God was 
not to be fortified like a castle.' On passing through the north transept, he was 
overtaken by the knights, with twelve companions, all in complete armour, who 
had burst into the church. As it was almost dark, he might, if he had pleased, 
have concealed himself among the crypts ; but he turned to meet them, followed 
by Edward Grim, his cross-bearer, the only one of his attendants who had not 
fled. To the vociferation of one of the assassins, ' iohere is the traitor?' he 
calmly replied, ' here I am, the archbishop, but no traitor.' When he was rudely 
told that he must absolve the bishops, he resolutely answered — ' Till they offer 
satisfaction, [ will not.' 'Then die!' exclaimed the assassin, aiming a blow at 
liis head. Grim interposed his arn»i, which was broken ; but the force of the 
stroke bore away the primate's cap, and wounded him on the crown. As he felt 
the blood trickling down his face, he joined his hands, and bowed his head, 
saying, — ' In the name of Christ, and for the defence of his church, I am ready to 
die !' In this posture, turned towards his murderers, without a groan, and without 
a motion, he awaited a second blow, which threw him on his knees, — the third 
laid him on the floor at the foot of St. Bennet's altar." 



561 

ander III. not only confirmed, by a new bull, that of his predecessor, 
Adrian, in its fullest extent, but invested him with a more exalted 
power of dominion over Ireland. 

" Henry also," observes Dr. Lingard, " obtained from the pontiff 
a bull empowering him to enfeoff any one of his sons with the lord- 
ship of Ireland. In a great council assembled at Oxford, A. D. 
1177, he conferred that dignity on Prince John, a boy only in his 
twelfth year, — and cancelling the grants he had formerly made, 
retained for himself, in demesne, all the seaports with the adjoining 
cantreds, and distributed the rest of the English possessions among 
the chief adventurers, to be holden by the tenure of military service 
of him and his son John." Before Hugh de Lacy and Henry 
Fitzadelm reached Meath, with their main forces. Ring Roderick 
crossed the Shannon, attacked the English advanced guards, de- 
stroyed their entrenchments, and compelled them to fly back in 
dismay to their head quarters in the county of Dublin. But De 
Lacy, urgently representing to the two viceroys, Strongbow and 
Raymond le' Gross, (the latter having then, A. D. 1175, married 
his colleague's sister. Basilica) the danger of not speedily arresting 
the progress of Roderick, induced these chiefs, with a large army, 
to march with celerity to Meath ; but Roderick, timely apprized of 
their approach, repassed the Shannon, beyond which the English 
did not venture to pursue him. At this period, A. D. 1175, the 
success of O'Connor in the west, and of O'Brien in the south, filled 
the English with fears and evil forebodings, which were greatly 
increased now, on the departure of Strongbow from Ireland to assist 
Henry in his wars in France against his rebellious son, and the 
French and Scottish kings, who made common cause with the 
unnatural and unfilial prince. The fortunate reconciliation, how- 
ever, with the court of Rome, proved, in Normandy, as effectual as 
a victory for Ring Henry. 

It does not, however, fall within the province of an Irish histo- 
rian to record Henry's splendid successes in England and France, 
which the anxious reader will find eloquently narrated in Dr. Lin- 
gard's admirable history of England. The departure of Strongbow, 
the chief prop of English power, from Ireland, filled the discontented 
Irish chieftains with joy, for they regarded it as a propitious occasion, 
afforded to them by good fortune, to assert and recover their lost 
rights and properties. Big with the hope of success, they held 
private meetings to concert plans for the expulsion of the strangers 
from their country, and fearlessly and spiritedly proclaimed their 
determination of coinpelling the invaders to return to England. At 
this juncture, too, the designs of the Irish chiefs bid fair to be 
carried into effectual success by the dissensions and jealousies that 
prevailed between the English chieftains, and the mutinous spirit of 
discontent that disordered and disaffected their soldiers. These 
soldiers had unlimited confidence in the courage and capacity of 
their late gallant and popular leader, Strongbow, while they looked 
with distrust and apprehension on their present commanders. 

Mr. Lawless, in narrating the discords which then threatened to 
subvert English dominion in Ireland, observes : — " Such differences 
71 



563 

would have been fatal to the English interests in Ireland, were they 
not put an end to by the second appointment of Strongbow to the 
vice-regency of Ireland. The latter, however useful an auxiliary 
to Henry in his foreign wars, was again sent to Ireland, to pursue 
the conquests of the British monarch in that country." 



CHAPTER LXVIII. 



Death of the Prince of Breffeny. — Treaty betioeen Henry and Roderick, the monarch. 
Death of Stro?igbow. — Raymond le' Gross is appointed chief governor of Ireland. 
Displaced by order of King Henry.— Fitzadelm promoted in his place. — His 
administration. — Hugh de.Lacy appointed Lord Deputy. — De Courcy's cruel 
conduct in Ulster. 

O'RouRKE, at this period, A. D. 1175, rendered himself, by his 
heroic valour and militai'y power, very formidable to the English 
chieftains, having in all his encounters with them, displayed a bold- 
ness of attack, and a skill of generalship, that excited, at once, their 
astonishment and admiration. 

These despotic adventurers " parcelled out lands to their most 
attached English friends, and drove the unoffending natives from 
the inheritance of their forefathers. Such measures roused the 
indignation of Roderick, the prince of Breffeny or Leitrim. He 
repaired to Dublin, and insisted upon a conference at Tara. This 
conference was held ; but, as English historians relate, O'Rourke 
endeavoured, insidiously, to ensnare the unwary English general, 
who had nigh fallen a victim to his confidence in his honour. Here 
it may be permitted to observe, that the situation of O'Rourke, the 
Irish chieftain, rendered him more independent of the dishonourable 
artifices with which he is charged, than that of the English viceroy, 
De Lacy. That the cautions which historians put into the mouths 
of De Lacy's friends not to trust to the honour of O'Rourke, were 
only more artful modes of concealing the stratagem, which was 
planned and executed by the English, and that an Irish chieftain, 
from his rank, situation and condition, would be less likely to put 
into practice the low or the mean artifices of cowardly policy, than 
those administrations, whose diminished forces were now confined 
to a very small portion of Irish territory, and who would leave no 
experiment untried by which their objects could be obtained, or 
their enemy vanquished. O'Rourke fell a victim at this conference, 
and De Lacy was thus liberated from one of his most formidable 
opponents. The Irish loudly proclaimed the treachery by which 
their favourite prince was sacrificed, and vowed the most dreadful 
vengeance on his destroyers." 

The army of Munster, on the departure of Raymond le' Gross 
for Wales, was entrusted by Strongbow to Hervey Mountmorres. 

"Hervey," says Dr. Leland, "was but too sensible how much his 
own character had been obscured by the superior lustre of his rival, 



563 

and now determined to engage in some brave enterprize, whicli 
might regain him the affections of the soldiery, and emulate the 
successes of Le' Gross. He represented to Earl Strongbow the 
necessity of speedily repressing that spirit of revolt and insurrection 
which had appeared among the Irish princes ; and as the disposi- 
tions lately made in Meath, seemed to have established an effectual 
barrier against the king of Connaught, he advised him to bend his 
whole force against the insurgents of Munster, and by chastising 
their revolt, and reducing them to due obedience, to strike terror 
into those who were equally disaffected, but had not yet dai'ed to 
commence hostilities. The earl, whose genius was better fitted to 
adopt and execute, than to form a plan of operations, readily yielded 
to these instances, and in conjunction with Mountmorres, led a 
considerable body of forces to the city of Cashel. When their 
troops had been here reviewed, and information received of the 
posture and numbers of the enemy, Hervey prevailed upon him, 
in order to give their armament a more brilliant and formidable 
appearance, to despatch his orders to Dublin, that a considerable 
party of the garrison, consisting of Ostmen, who had engaged in the 
service of the English, should, without delay, join their main body. 
As this detachment advanced, the fame of its motions spread through 
the country, and was conveyed into the quarters of the enemies. 
O'Brien of Thomond, a valiant and sagacious chieftain, and im- 
placably averse to the English interests, conceived the design of 
cutting off this body, as the most effectual means of weakening and 
dispiriting the enemy. He suffered the Ostmen to advance as far 
as Thurles,* and there to encamp in a state of careless security, 
when falling suddenly upon them, he wreaked his fury upon men 
utterly unprepared for defence. Four hundred of the detachment, 
together with their four principal commanders, were slaughtered 
upon the field ; and, to complete the triumph of O'Brien, Earl 
Richard, on receiving the intelligence of this misfortune, retired 
with all the precipitation of a routed general, and threw himself for 
safety into Waterford. 

This disgrace of the English arms, which was magnified by fame 
into a decisive victory obtained over Strongbow and his united 
powers, served as a signal to the disaffected Irish to rise up in arms. 
Several of the Leinster chieftains who had lately made their sub- 
missions, and bound themselves to the service of King Henry, 
openly disclaimed all their engagements. Even Donald Ravenagh, 
son of the late King Dermod, who had hitherto adhered to the Eng- 
lish, even in their utmost difiiculties, now declared against them, 
and asserted a title to the kingdom of Leinster ; while Roderick, 

* Thurles is a pleasant, rich and populous town, situated on the river Suir, 
barony of Eliogurty, in the county of Tipperary, at the distance of 95 English 
miles from Dublin. From this town the eldest son of the Marquis of Ormond, 
takes the title of Earl. The ruins of OTorgarty's castle, erected by that chieftain 
in the tenth century, and of the Carmelite friary built by the Butler family, on 
the east side of the river Suir, still remain as monuments of the great past in this 
opulent and spirited town. The country in which Thurles is embosomed, is rich, 
fertile and scenic. The magnificent and reverential ruins of the famous abbey of 
Holy Cross, are within three miles of Thurles. Boston, July 9, 1836. 



564 

on his part, was active in uniting the princes of Ulster, the native 
lords of Meath, and other chiefs, against their common enemy." 

The triumph of O'Brien over the British arms, roused the fenrs 
of, and suggested the necessity of caution to Strongbow, — who, for 
security, retreated precipitately to Waterford. The oppressed Irish 
in that city, were now resolved to avenge the wrongs and insults 
offered to them by the English garrison, but the presence of Ray- 
mond le' Gross and Strongbow, with their combined forces, over- 
awed them, and frustrated their design. O'Brien, prince of Thomond, 
flushed to the highest enthusiasm of ambition by his late victory, 
possessed himself of the city of Limerick, drove out the English 
garrison, and bade defiance to the British invaders. Strongbow, 
apprehensive of the growing power and continued conquests of 
O'Brien in the south of Ireland, despatched his brother-in-law, Ray- 
mond, with a force of six hundred men, to attack O'Brien in Lime- 
rick, and to reduce that garrison. 

Although O'Brien made a brave defence, yet when Raymond, 
followed by his soldiers, waded through the Shannon, at a favourable 
moment, when the tide was unusually low, and furiously assaulted 
the city, they succeeded in compelling O'Brien to capitulate and 
agree to become the vassal of King Henry, by a solemn oath of 
allegiance, and the delivery of hostages. 

" A new scene," writes Lawless, " now opens to the reader of 
Irish history, which at once excites the pity and contempt of every 
independent mind. It may conciliate the tender and mild feelings 
of humanity, but it must raise the indignation, and insult the pride 
of every independent Irishman. The Irish monarch, fatigued with 
the repeated efforts which he made to restore peace to his country, 
and depressed by the perfidy of his chieftains, determined at length 
to submit to Henry, under whom he might be able to hold his sove- 
reignty, and to preserve his people against the afflicting calamities 
of war. It is almost impossible to look back to the conduct of the 
Irish monarch, on this occasion, without partaking of that sensi- 
bility which seemed to animate his royal bosom. Full of ardent 
and parental alTection for his subjects, he preferred even the mortifi- 
cation of being the royal vassal of Henry, to making an unprofitable 
effort for the assertion of his sovereignty. He therefore determined 
on treating with the English monarch himself, and not through the 
medium of his generals. He sent forward his ambassadors to Eng- 
land, Catholicus, archbishop of Tuam, the abbot of St. Brandon, 
and Lawrence, chancellor to Roderick. The terms of accommoda- 
tion were agreed upon between the two mon?irchs. Roderick bound 
himself by treaty to pay an annual tribute, namely, every tenth 
merchantable hide, and to acknowledge the king of England as his 
liege lord. The Irish monarch was, by the conditions of his treaty 
with Henry, to enjoy the uncontrolled administration of his king- 
dom ; his royal rights were left inviolate ; the English laws were to 
be confined, as we have said before, to the English pale.* The 

* The Pale was the name given by King John, on the occasion of his visit to 
Ireland, in A. D. 1210, to those districts subject to the English power, which 
comprehended the present counties of Dublin, Meath, Louth, Wexford, Water- 
ford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary. 



565 

submission of Roderick promised days of peace to Ireland; of 
strength and of glory to England." 

Roderick was secured and allowed, by this treaty, all his regal 
authority as monarch of Ireland, over the provincial princes, and 
the terras of the compact which was ceremoniously ratified in a 
great council of prelates and princes, stipulated that his royal pre- 
rogative should be exercised in as full and free a manner as it was 
before he gave his adhesion and yielded homage to Henry. But 
several of the Irish chieftains paid little or no deference to Rode- 
rick after this, as they disregarded his royal authority, — because 
they looked upon him now as a dependent on the will and pleasure 
of a foreign king, and that the monarchical powers which he assumed 
were only nominal. Consequently several of them, by making a 
conditional submission to Henry, completely absolved them from 
the allegiance in which they had bound themselves to Roderick. 
Henry, now certain that he would soon possess full sovereignty over 
all Ireland, employed the ablest legislators in his realm to devise 
and draw up a code of laws for the good government of the English 
pale, to which laws the people were obliged to swear they would, in 
all cases, inviolably observe. He also ordered Strongbow to sum- 
mon all the peers, prelates and abbots, to a parliament to be holden, 
with all convenient speed, in Dublin, which legislative convocations 
were to confirm all the enactments that were made at the parlia- 
ment of Lismore, at which he had himself presided, shortly after 
his arrival in Ireland, A. D. 1172.* But as we before observed, the 
operation of the modes of the laws were to be confined exclusively 
to the English pale, and on no account to be enforced in the do- 
minions of Roderick. 

The splendid successes of Raymond in Munster, filled the breast 
of his implacable rival, Hervey Mountmorres, with envy and malice ; 
so that he, writes Leland, " secretly despatched emissaries to Henry, 
by whom he made the most unfavourable representations of Ray- 
mond's conduct. They assured the king that this lord evidently 
aspired to an independent sovereignty in Ireland ; that for this 
purpose he had practised all the arts of factious popularity, with 
too great success, and was ,no longer solicitous to conceal his dis- 
loyal schemes ; that he had secured Limerick to himself, and in 
this and other cities had stationed garrisons devoted to his service, 
and sworn secretly to support his designs ; that the infection had 
spread through the vvhole army, which waited but the command of 
Raymond to engage in any enterprize, however repugnant to the 
interest and authority of their prince." Meanwhile Raymond was 
pursuing a most brilliant career of conquest in Munster, which 
gained a facility from the unfortunate and deplorable feuds and 
quarrels which then estranged and divided the Irish princes. In 
the year 1176, Cormac, the son of Dermod McCarthy More, prince 
of Desmond, was so unfilial and unnatural as to rebel against his 
own father, to attack his palace, and immure him in a prison. 

* It is mentioned by an English liistorian, that some oi' the statutes of the Par- 
liament of Lismore, were quoted and adduced in an act passed in the second year 
of the reiofn of Richard III. 



566 

Dermod found means, however, to send a trusty messenger to Lime- 
rick to apprise Raymond of his situation, and to solicit his aid in 
restoring him to his Hberty and principaUty. Raymond, proud of 
an invitation which promised to increase his fame and augment his 
fortune, quickly marched to the assistance of Dermod, the friend 
and tributary of his royal master, attacked the rebellious son, van- 
quished his whole force, and made a captive of himself, and then 
delivered him into the hands of his enraged father, who instantly 
sentenced him to be put to death. For this service, McCarthy More 
conferred on Raymond a large portion of the county of Kerry, 
which the latter assigned to his son Maurice, on his marriage with 
Catherine, the daughter of Milo de Cogan, which district is called 
to this day, Clanmaurice.* Raymond returned to Limerick with 
rich spoils and an ample quantity of provisions, of which his garri- 
son, in that city, stood in much need. 

" But now," observes Dr. Leland, " in the midst of his success, 
he receives the alarming intelligence of the death of Earl Strong- 
bow, who expired in Dublin after a tedious indisposition, occasioned 
by a mortification in his foot. The fickleness of the Irish, their 
real abhorrence of their despotic invaders, notwithstanding their 
pretended submissions, and their perhaps excusable precipitation in 
revolting and taking arms on any extraordinary emergency, were 
but too well known, and made it necessary for the English govern- 
ment to keep this event concealed, till their forces were collected 
from the distant quarters of the kingdom ; and lest the secret should 
be discovered by any miscarriage of the letter which Basilica now 
sent to her husband, it was conceived in mysterious terms. She 
informed him that her great tooth, which had ached so long, was at 
last fallen out, and therefore entreated him to return to Dublin with 
all imaginable speed. 

Raymond, who perfectly understood the meaning of this enig- 
matical expression, and the importance of a cautious and judicious 
procedure on an occasion so critical, returned instantly to Limerick, 
and there held a secret consultation with a few selected friends. It 
was readily agreed that the death of the chief governor, at a time 
when the next man in command was summoned into England, 
required an immediate attention to the peace and security of the 
English province ; and that no troops could be spared from this 
first and necessary service. It had cost Raymond much pains and 
labour to gain the city of Limerick, and it was now peculiarly mor- 
tifying to find himself obliged to abandon this hardly acquired con- 
quest. But the garrison could by no means be left behind. He 
therefore sent for Donald O'Brien ; and with an aflTected ease and 
confidence acquainted him that, by his late submission, he was 
become one of the king's barons, and entitled to the confidence of 
his liege lord ; and therefore, as a mark of distinction due to his 

* Clanmaurice is the name of a barony in the county of Kerry, which derives 
its appellation from the circumstance mentioned in the text ; its former Irish de- 
signation being Lixraaw, or the land of the Luxcensis of Spain. Thomas Fitz- 
maurice, the direct and legitimate descendant of Maurice, the son of Raymond, 
was raised by George I. to the peerage, in the year 1722, by the title of Viscount 
Clanmaurice, and earl of Kerry, which dignities the family still enjoys. 



567 

exalted rank, be entrusted hira with the custody of Limerick which 
might give him an occasion of approving^ his attachment, and merit- 
ing additional honours and rewards. The Irish chieftain received 
this proposal with a secret exultation, concealed under the appear- 
ance of the most profound humility, and dutiful allegiance. Ray- 
mond and his troops proceeded to evacuate the town ; but scarcely 
had they passed over one end of the bridge, when the other was 
broken down ; and they had the mortification to behold the city 
which they had taken such pains to fortify, and supply with stores 
of every kind, set on fire in four difi'erent quarters by order of 
O'Brien, who declared that Limerick should no longer be the nest 
of foreigners. We are told that when this transaction was reported 
to King Henry, possibly in order to possess him with an unfavour- 
able opinion of Raymond, this prince, too generous and too wise to 
judge by the event, observed, that the first gaining of Limerick was 
a noble exploit, the recovery of it still nobler; but that the only act 
of wisdom was the abandoning their conquest in this manner." 

Raymond, unable to retake the city which he had entrusted, in 
the manner related, to O'Brien, prince of Thomond, proceeded 
with all possible celerity to Dublin, where, on bis arrival, in A. D. 
1177, a council was convened, the members of which unanimously 
elected him viceroy of Ireland, in the room of his brother-in-law, 
Strongbow. The new viceroy commanded, as the first act of his 
government, that his noble predecessor's funeral should be marked 
by the splendour, pomp and magnificence due to the exalted mili- 
tary character, and distinguished station of the deceased. The 
gorgeous procession was composed of almost all the chiefs of the 
pale, the garrison and clergy of Dublin, and of several Irish 
toparchs. The funeral service, and other religious ceremonies, 
were performed by Archbishop O'Toole of Dublin. His remains 
were interred in a superb sepulchral monument in the cathedral of 
Christ's Church.* 

"The manner of Strougbow's death is accurately described by 
the pen of superstitious vengeance ; nor is it to be wondered at by 
the impartial reader of the sad variety of suffering inflicted upon 
Ireland by the arms of England, that the irritated Irish annalist 
should have given credit to the rumours that devoted this renowned 
English adventurer to a mysterious and miserable termination of his 
existence. The desolation and calamity with which unhappy Ire- 

* " Amongst the monuments situated on or near the southern wall of the nave 
of this cathedral, (Christ Church) the attention of the antiquarian examiner is first 
attracted by the tomb ascribed to Richard, earl of Pembroke, surnamed Strong- 
bow. This funeral memorial, as far as it is supposed to regard the earl, consists 
of the effigies of a knight, the legs crossed and the hands folded ; the first position 
being probably intended to inform posterity that the deceased was engaged in the 
crusades, either in person, by proxy, or by vow. The knight is in mail ; and on 
the left arm is a shield, with armorial bearings. The whole, as is usual with 
cross-legged figures, is rudely sculptured. On a tablet over the effigies is the 
following inscription : — ' This ancyent monument of Rychard Strangbowe — called 
Comes— Strangveensis— lord of "Chepsto and Ogny — the first and principal in- 
vader of Ireland, A. D. 1169. Qvi. obit. 1177. The monvraent was broken by 
the fall of the roof and bodye of Chryste's Chvrch, in 1562, and set up agayne at 
the charge of the Right Honourable Sir Henri Sydney, knight of the noble order 
of the garter, lord-president and depvty of Ireland, 1570.' " — Brewer. 



568 

land was visited — the degradation with which it was threatened, 
and the sad and affecting story which history was doomed to record, 
must have naturally called up those honest feelings of resentment 
which fill the bosoms of fallen pride and insulted honour. No 
wonder, then, that the persecuted Irish should look up to heaven 
for its vengeance on their cruel oppressors, — and that their tortured 
fancies should anticipate the mediation of that God whose altars 
were insulted, and whose temples were laid prostrate." The Eng- 
lish historians endeavoured to justify Strongbow and his rapacious 
followers, for plundering the churches and abbeys of Ireland, on 
the assumed and specious ground, that the Irish chieftains were, at 
that period, in the habit, when they dreaded the incursion of the 
Saxon enemy, to deposit their treasures, and other valuable effects, 
in these sacred edifices. But these futile and flimsy pretexts will 
find no credit with the inquiring and impartial historian^ and instead 
of being deemed by him an extenuation of the impious aggression, 
he will calmly and deliberately pronounce them an aggravation of 
the despotism with which our native country was afilicted. 

When King Henry was informed of the election, by the council 
in Dublin, of Raymond, as lord-viceroy of Ireland, he became quite 
indignant at their choice ; and in the fury of his anger, it is said, 
that he beat one or two of his attendants. The false representations 
made by Hervey Mountmorres against the bravest of his generals, 
now perverted and influenced his inflamed mind. The king imme- 
diately issued out a royal proclamation, despatched by a special 
envoy, annulling the appointment by the council, of Raymond, as 
lord deputy. After the envoy speedily followed William Fitzadelm, 
a noble relative of the king, bearing a commission authorizing him 
to act as viceroy of Ireland. This lord was joined in the patent by 
John de Courcy, Robert Fitzstephen, Milo de Cogan, and Cardinal 
Vivian, the pope's legate. On their arrival, A. D. 1177, in Water- 
ford, where Raymond, like a devoted subject, repaired to surrender 
his power to the new viceroy, the legate convened a meeting of all 
the clergy of Munster, at which he read the brief of Alexander, and 
the bull of Adrian IV., declaring and confirming Henry II. as the 
rightful king of Ireland. The legate imposed it as a sacred duty 
on all the bishops and priests of Ireland, to promulgate these papal 
documents as extensively as possible. Raymond, the chivalrous 
hero, whose magnanimity of soul was above envy or jealousy, felt 
mortified that his great and unexampled services rendered to Henrj', 
were so ungratefully rewarded, resigned his command in the army, 
and retired to his castle at Tullaroan,* county of Kilkenny, to brood 
over his unmerited treatment and wrongs. 

* Tullaroan, or Courtstown, is situated w^ithin a few miles of the city of Kil- 
kenny, on the northwestern margin of the county of Kilkenny. Brewer, in 
describing Tullaroan in his "■ Beauties of Ireland," says, " Tullaroan is part of 
the extensive cantred of Grace's country, the whole of which, for several centu- 
ries, belonged to the Grace family (the descendants of Raymond le Gross.) The 
district named after that family, consisted of a vast tract of land, comprehending, 
it is said, the whole barony of Cranagh, and extending northwards by the liberties 
of Kilkenny, and the river Nore, to the borders of the Queen's county ; and 
thence southwards, along to the borders of Tipperary, to the liberties of Callan; 



569 

Fitzadelm made a pompous, ostentatious and in^posing parade of 
his vice-regal power while in Waterford ; and thence, accompanied 
by his friends, Fitzstephen, Cogan and Fitzwalter, (the latter the 
ancestor of the present marquis of Orniond,*) and a magnificent 
and noble train of knights, set out on a tour of inspection, along 
the coast of Munster. In his stately progress he gave orders for 
the erection of new, and the repair of old fortresses. He made a 
triumphal entry into the city of Dublin, where he soon evinced the 
most haughty arrogance, and comported himself on every public 
occasion, more like a sovereign prince than the viceroy of Henry 
II. The first blow, however, that prostrated his lordly pride, was 
the positive refusal of Archbishop O'Toole to attend at his first 
levee, — that patriotic prelate offering his age and infirmity as his 
plea of apology. But that was not all the mortification which the 
noble-minded bishop's national spirit and obstinacy inflicted on the 
vanity of the viceroy, — for in despite of the power of the Vatican, 
and of the legate's commands, the magnanimous and high-souled 
prelate declined issuing a circular pastoral letter to the clergy of his 
see, to publish and promulgate the bull of Pope Adrian, or the brief 
of Pope Alexander. Fitzadelm commenced his administration in 
Ireland, on the most despotic system, and his measures " seemed 
to be more directed against his predecessors in power, than to the 
extension of his royal master's interests. Giraldus Cambrensis 
says, that he was sensual and corrupt, rapacious and avaricious ; 
and though not formidable from the terror of his arms, yet full of 
craft, of fraud and dissimulation." Against his heroic predecessor, 

forming a district between eleven and twelve miles in length, and betwixt five 
and six in breadth." The Grace family forfeited these extensive estates, in con- 
sequence of their devoted attachment to the ungrateful Stuart family. At the 
battle of the Boyne, John Grace, Lord Courtstown, where he gallantly signalized 
his valour, commanded a regiment of foot which he had raised to assist James II. 
at his own expense. Prior to the disastrous battle of the Boyne, Lord Courtstown, 
writes Brewer, " was solicited with very flattering promises of royal favour, to 
throw the weight of his influence into the scale of King William's interest ; and 
it is recorded that, in the warmth of the moment, he wrote on the back of a card 
this indignant reply to the overture, conveyed by an emissary of Duke Schom- 
berg : — ■' Tell your master I despise his oflTer ; tell him that honour and conscience 
are dearer to a gentleman than all the wealth and titles a prince can bestow.' 
This card chanced to be the six of hearts, which is, to this day, in the county of 
Kilkenny, frequently termed ' Grace's card.' Our historians say that Raymond 
le' Gross, the very Marshal Ney of Henry's forces in Ireland, died at Courtstown 
castle, in the year 1184. Giraldus Cambrensis calls him the ' notable and chiefest 
pillar of Ireland.' " " Without him," says an Irish antiquarian, " the soldiers 
were nothing, with him they were every thing." We have not been able to 
ascertain the place of Raymond's sepulture ; but it is probable his remains were 
interred in Courtstown church, in " Grace's chapel," county of Kilkenny. 

* The Fitzwalter family assumed the name of Butler, inconsequence of their 
ancestor being butler to Henry II. The Butlers, for ages, were the persecutors 
and the patriots of Ireland,— they were " the glory and the shame" of the country. 
In our second volume we must, of necessity, say much more of the Butlers. This 
family were devoted adherents to the house of Lancaster, because Henry VI. 
could not be persuaded by calumnies or entreaties to remove the Earl of Ormond 
from the government of Ireland ; and " this repeated favour," observes Leland, 
'< to the Earl of Ormond, seems to have laid the foundation of that lasting attach- 
ment which the family of Butler afterwards discovered to the house of Lancaster 
and its interests." 

72 



570 

Raymond le' Gross, he evinced the most malignant and envious 
spirit of persecution, offering him every insult and indignity. He 
compelled him to exchange his rich lands in Wexford, for unculti- 
vated tracts in Kilkenny. The sons of Maurice Fitzgerald were 
also constrained by the despotism of vice-regal power, to give up the 
possession of their fertile domains, which "lay in a secure part of 
the country, for others more exposed to the incursions of the Irish."* 

In tiie latter end of the year 1177, Fleming, the English com- 
mandant of the castle of Slane, " wantonly presuming," says 
Leland, " on his strength, had provoked the neighbouring chiefs by 
his depredations, who in revenge fell suddenly upon him with their 
united forces, slaughtered his followers without mercy or distinction ; 
and pursuing the remains of his garrison even to the very walls of 
Dublin, were left at full liberty to demolish every fort which the 
English had erected in their territory. But far from repressing or 
revenging such incursions, Fitzadelm seems to have had neither 
dispositions nor abilities suited to a government, which was to be 
supported by a vigilant and a martial spirit. He came into the 
island with a jealousy of the original adventurers, which possibly 
had been infused into him by Henry, and which he had not temper 
to conceal. At his very first interview with Raymond, he is said to 
have looked with a malignant eye upon the numbers and gallant 
appearance of his train ; and, turning to his followers, was weak 
enough to threaten that he should soon find means to quell their 
pride. The object of his administration was to enrich himself, not 
by the force and terror of his arms, but by the less hazardous and 
baser means of craft, fraud, and circumvention. To preserve peace 
with the Irish chiefs, he had recourse to affected courtesy and flat- 
tery, which they had discernment enough to discover and despise ; 
and to his own countrymen, the apparent insincerity of his fairest 
professions, and the designs he manifested against their interest 
and properties, rendered him an object of detestation. 

Walter Almain, his kinsman and creature, was stationed in Wex- 
ford, where he endeavoured to provide for his security by forming a 
connection with the Irish chieftain of O'Kinsellah, who is said to 
have prevailed on him by the force of bribes to demolish some con- 
siderable works lately erected for the defence of the English plan- 
tation. Thus, white all advantages were engrossed by the governor 
and his dependants, the perilous and laborious duties of defence 
were imposed on the original adventurers, a hardy race, untainted 
with the luxuries and debaucheries of Fitzadelm and his Normans; 

* The Fitzgerald family are descended from Gerald, a Welsh baron, who, 
in the reign of Henry I. married Anne, daughter of Rees Gruffydth, prince of 
Wales, and widow of Robert Fitzstephen, constable of the castles of Abertiny and 
Pembroke. Prior to the lady's marriage with Fitzstephen, she was the mistress of 
King Henry I., by whom she had a son, named Henry, after his royal sire, the 
father to Miles and Robert Fitzhenry, who were among the first invaders of 
Ireland, as will be seen in the preceding pages. After her marriage with her 
second husband, Gerald, she gave birth to two sons, Maurice and William Fitz- 
gerald, who accompanied their half brother, Fitzstephen, into Ireland. William 
was killed in battle in the county of Cork ; but from Maurice, who married the 
daughter of Milo de Cogan, is descended the present Duke of Leinster. Boston, 
July 18, 1836. 



571 

but proud and irritable, and justly impatient to see the fruits of 
their labours seized by these new settlers. The strong and aggra- 
vated representations of their historian and panegyrist, Giraldus, 
plainly mark their discontent and indignation ; and this unhappy 
division of the Enghsh, with the mutual jealousies and animosities 
of contending parlies, could not fail to cast a shade of dishonour 
and reproach on the administration of Fitzadelm. The lords avowed 
their hatred; the soldiers were unpaid, and ill appointed; of conse- 
quence mutinous and discontented. The Irish natives crowded 
eagerly to a court which received them with the most flattering 
attention, and which is said not to have been inaccessible to bribes. 
Their claims and complaints were heard with favour by the chief 
governor, and always decided against his rivals, which served to 
increase their confidence, without lessening their disaffection. 

The English lords who had all left their native lands from the 
hopes of valuable settlements and acquisitions in Ireland ; and they 
who had not as yet received their rewards, were particularly dis- 
pleased with Fitzadelm, and impatient of an administration un- 
friendly to the spirit of adventure. John de Courcy was the first to 
express his dissatisfaction. An extraordinary strength of body, and 
vigour of constitution, together with a violent and precipitate valour, 
had rendered him the admiration of his warlike and unpolished 
countrymen. His own utter insensibility to danger made him the 
readier to propose the most hazardous and desperate enterprizes ; 
and his manners, which were rather those of a common soldier than 
a commander, gave him the easier access to the passions and preju- 
dices of the soldiery. He laboured to inflame them against the 
governor ; he represented the distress to which they were exposed 
by his avarice, which deprived them of pay, and the timidity of his 
government, which precluded them from supplying their necessities 
at the expense of their enemies; reminded them that King Henry 
had formerly granted him such lands of Ulster as he should acquire 
by the sword ; and freely promised to share his fortune with those 
who preferred a gallant enterprize to a state of distressful indo- 
lence ; and thus prevailed on a small body of the boldest and most 
adventurous, to attend him into the northern parts of Ireland, where 
the English arms had not as yet penetrated. 

Armoric of St. Lawrence, a valiant knight, with whom he had 
been connected in the strictest bands of friendship, determined, on 
this occasion, to share the fortune of his old associate. Robert de 
la Poer, a young soldier who had lately been distinguished in the 
wars of Leinster, took the same part ; and such leaders gave both 
strength and credit to the enterprize. The marriage of De Courcy 
with the daughter of Gothred, king of Man, freed him from the 
apprehensions of any opposition from this quarter, where the Irish 
had often found an effectual resource ; and his own ignorant super- 
stition served to confirm his hopes of a permament and extensive 
conquest. He had discovered in the prophecies of Merlin, that the 
acquisition of Ulster was reserved for his valour ; and his Irish 
adherents supplied him with another prophet, who declared that 
Downpatrick (the immediate object of his enterprize) was to be sub- 
dued by a stranger mounted on a white horse, with a shield charged 



572 

with painted birds. He accoutred himself according to this descrip- 
tion, and marched to take possession of his destined conquest. 

On the fourth day of his march he arrived at Downpatrick, the 
seat of Dunleavy, prince of Uladh, who, unprovided for defence 
against an invasion so unexpected, fled precipitately at the first 
appearance of hostilities. His people, thus exposed to the ravages 
of an indigent and rapacious enemy, were reduced to a state of 
helpless consternation, at the havoc of invaders whom they had not 
provoked, and from whom they thought themselves secured by 
solemn treaty. In this distress their prince had recourse to the 
interposition of Vivian, the legate, who, in his progress through the 
island, now chanced to reside at Downpatrick, and was witness of 
the present devastation. He instantly addressed himself to De 
Courcy, represented the injustice and cruelty of his present enter- 
prize, reminded him of the treaty which the king of England had 
but just now concluded with the whole body of the Irish, in the 
person of their monarch, declared that the men of Ulster were 
ready to pay their quota of the stipulated tribute, and entreated him 
to spare a people who had provoked no resentment, and who, in- 
stead of being the object of hostilities, had a fair claim to protection. 

Whatever deference De Courcy might affect for the person and 
character of Vivian, it plainly appeared that he paid no attention to 
his remonstrances ; for his hostilities were continued. He fortified 
himself in Downpatrick, and seemed determined to maintain the 
possession he had acquired. The legate is said to have been so 
provoked at this injustice, and so affected by the suflferings of an 
unoffending people, that although the chief part of his commission 
was to prevail on the Irish to acknowledge the supremacy of King 
Henry, yet he now boldly advised Dunleavy to have recourse to 
arms, and to exert himself as became a brave prince, in order to 
rescue his territories from these rapacious invaders. His forces 
were collected ; the neighbouring chiefs invited to his assistance ; 
even Roderick was called upon to rise up against this outrageous 
violation of faith ; and the cause was too important to be entirely 
neglected, even amidst all those private quarrels which still con- 
tinued to weaken and distract the Irish princes. A tumultuary army, 
said to consist of ten thousand men, was collected, and marched 
under the command of the prince of Uladh, to dispossess these 
foreigners. De Courcy wisely determining not to abide a siege in 
a city scantily provided, and hastily fortified, marched out to meet 
the enemy with an aflfected contempt of their superiority; at the 
same time choosing such a situation as might render their numbers 
less effectual. The charge was furious, and the battle maintained 
for a considerable time with equal bravery on both sides; till at 
length, a disciplined, well armed, and well conducted body, proved 
superior to irregular, ill appointed, and undirected numbers. De 
Courcy, by the total overthrow of his opponents, was for the present 
left at full liberty to parcel out his lands, project and build his forts, 
and make all necessary provisions for the security of his conquest." 

End of Vol. I. 



INDEX. 



Arrival of Partholanus in Ireland 
Africans - - - - - 

Amhergen, the Druid 
Aongus, the Monarch 
Armorial Bearings . - - 
Archers, Irish . . . - 
Ancient Sepulture of the Irish 
Athy, Count)' of Kildare 
Ancient Literature of Ireland de- 
fended - - - - - 
Albanian Scots . . . . 
Annals of Ireland - - - 

Arrival of St. Patrick 
Armagh Cathedral . - . 
Arklow, County of Wicklow 
Armagh See . . . - 

Ardfert 

Art of staining Glass - - - 
Ardagh See . . . . 

Achonry See - . - - 

Athlone 

Adrian IV., Pope . . - 

Ancient Irish Architecture - 
Armagh City . . . - 

Breas 

Breogoh 

Bantry Bay, County Cork - 
Boyne River . . - . 

BrefFeny - - - . - 
Brehons and Bards 
Bridgid, the Saint . . . 

Biography of St. Patrick 
Baptism of the King of Munster 
Bishops' Sees . - . . 
Barry Gerald . . . . 
Breasal Prince - - . . 
Bards pleaded for by St. Columb. 
Bishop Burke - . . . 
Bangor, County of Down 
Brian Boroihme . . . 

Caves, Irish . . . . 

Cacier 

Colours, Law of . . . 

Coined Money . - . . 
Clogher, County of Tyrone 



13 


Cobhthaigh 




- 119 


17 


Connor, King of Ulster 


- 


- 140 


48 


Cuchullin - 


. 


- 139 


78 


" Death of 


. 


- 150 


86 


Connal Carnach 


. 


- 144 


111 


Castleguard, County of Louth 


- 148 


159 


Conn, Lake of - 


- 


- 152 


211 


Ceat, the Champion 


- 


153 




Congabby - - . 


- 


- 159 


226 


Criomthan, the Monarch 


- 


- 165 


249 


Carlanstown, County of Meath 


- 171 


262 


Cathoir More 


- 


- 182 


281 


Con of the Hundred Battles 


- 190 


290 


Cormac Cas 


- 


- 196 


333 


Cormac Mac Art 


. 


- 200 


392 


Carbre, the Monarch - 


. 


- 221 


397 


Collas 


- 


- 237 


398 


Clare, County of 


. 


- 254 


403 


Caledonia - . . 


. 


- 323 


406 


Connaught - 


- 


- 322 


481 


Clonard 




- 342 


503 


Culdees - . - 




- 346 


522 


Columba, the Saint 




- 350 


525 


Clonmacnois 




- 396 




Cloyne, See of 




- 400 


27 


Cathedral of St. Canice 




- 401 


41 


Clonfert See 




- 404 


45 


Ceallaghan, King of Munster 


- 455 


55 


Cormac, King and Archbishop 


of 


71 


Cashel - 


- 


- 448 


84 


Clontarf, Town of 


. 


- 488 


273 


" Battle of 


. 


- 489 


277 


Clonearl - - . 


. 


- 499 


284 


Castle Connell 


. 


- 505 


295 


Carrick Castle 


. 


- 543 


327 


Cogan, Milo 


. 


- 550 


331 


Clanmaurice 


. 


- 566 


338 








342 


Druids 


. 


- 25 


416 


Dress of the Ancient Irish 


. 


- 68 


467 


Downpatrick 


. 


- 91 




Dundalk Sea, Fight at 


. 


- 105 


20 


Deirdre ... 


. 


- 142 


61 


Donaghadee Town 


- 


- 143 


69 


Dal Riada - 


. 


- 193 


100 


Dathy, the Monarch - 


. 


- 256 


105 


Doyle, Bishop 


- 


- 295 



INDEX. 



De Lacy, Hugh - - - - 309 

Delvin, Lord of - - - - 309 

Dermod, the Monarch - - 331 

Dunshaghlin, County of Meath - 362 

Dublin, See of - - - - 393 

Derry Cathedral - - - - 402 

Dromore See . . - . 408 

Down and Connor See - - 408 

Danes, their first Invasion - - 410 

Deasies .... - 465 

Dalgais 472 

Dunamase 496 

Dunmanus Bay - - - - 512 

Dundrum 520 

Devorghal, the Princess - - 538 

Dermod, King of Leinster - - 537 

Desmond, Prince of - - - 557 

Dermod McCarthy - - - 566 

Eochaidh, the King - - - 22 

Eadhna, the Monarch - - 103 

Emania 112 

" Palace of - - - 240 

Eric, Law of - - - - 181 

Eogan More - - - - 187 

Emly, County Tipperary - - 392 

Episcopal Sees - . - - 393 

Elphin See ... - 404 

Ennishowen - - - - 519 

Firbolgs, Colony of - - - 21 

Fileas 52 

Fortifications, Ancient Irish - 95 

Fiacha 129 

Ferns, County of Wexford - 131 

Fergus, Prince of Ulster - - 138 

Fionna Erion ... - 198 

Fingal 199 

Fiacha II. 237 

France invaded by Nial - - 250 

Family of O'Neil - - - 255 

Four Masters, Annals of - - 257 

Faughard, County of Louth - 353 

Ferns See 410 

Flan, the Monarch - - - 448 

Fitzstephen . . - - 540 

Feathard, County of Wexford - 541 

Fitzadelm 568 

Gadel Glas, the Prince - - 34 
Gadelians ----- 35 
Gollamh, or Milesius - - 38 
Glanmire, County of Cork - 101 
Granard, County of Longford - 112 
Government of Ireland - - 115 
Gaul Mac Morni - - - 187 
Gabhra, Battle of - - - 188 
Golden Collar, Order of - - 251 
Glendalogh -' - - - 393 
Geography and Statistics of Ire- 
land 512 

Galway, Town of - - - 521 

Gothic Architecture . - - 523 

Gold and Silver Ornaments - 534 



Heber - - - - 

Heremon - - . - 
Heraldry, Irish - - . 
Hugh, the Monarch 
Harp of Brian Boroihme 
Henry II. - 

Ith 

Irish Language . - - 

Iberians - - . - 

Irial, the Prophet 

Irish Heralds - . - 

Irish Militia 

Irish Literature - - - 

Irish Genealogy 

lona. Isle of - . . 

Inis-Cathy - . . 

Irrelagh, County of Kerry - 

Inchiquin - - - - 

Irish Geographical Position 

Irish Character - - . 

Irish Lakes and Rivers 

Jonoraice, the Monarch 
Jughaine, the Monarch 
Jurisprudence, Irish 
Jonadhbhar . - - 

Kells, County of Meath 

Killencoole, County of Louth 

Knights, Irish - - - 

Kinsellagh Family 

Kildare Church - - - 

Kille, St. Columb. 

Kilmore See - - - 

Kilmacduach See 

Kilfenora See - - - 

Killaloe See - - . - 

KillalaSee 

Kildare and Leighlin See 
Kilmainham . - - - 

Kavenagii, Donald - - - 

Lakes of Ireland . - - 

Liagh-Fail - - - - - 
Luigha - . - - - 

Ledwich, Rev. Dr. - - - 
Landing of the Milesians 
Laoghaire, the Monarch 
Lismore, County of Waterford 
Leath Mogha-what - - - 
Leath Conn - - - 

Lugha, the Hero - - 

Liifey River - - 

Dr. Ledwich . . . - 
Leinster, Origin of its Name 
Louth - - - - _ - 

Learning and Arts in Ireland during 

the Ninth Century 
Lough Leana - - - - 
Leo X., Pope . - - - 
Lough Dearg - - - 



Macpherson, James 



36 

48 

86 

335 

503 

539 

41 
41 

52 
66 
142 
198 
225 
261 
347 
448 
496 
505 
512 
515 
514 

98 
113 
116 
130 

89 
134 
147 
243 
327 
330 
402 
405 
405 
405 
408 
409 
474 
563 

13 
24 
24 

29 
44 
118 
159 
187 
187 
201 
216 
223 
308 
319 

422 

440 
503 
537 

29 



INDEX. 



Milesians 31 

Mile Espaine - - - - 38 

Mines and Minerals - . - 70 

Macha, Queen - - - - 110 

Moore's History of Ireland - 113 

Military Partition of Ireland - 115 

Moriat, the Princess of Munster 122 

Macon, Prince Royal of Ireland 120 

Meath, County of - - - 135 

Meibhe, Queen of Connaught - 136 

Minstrels 155 

Mullacrew, Battle of - - - 149 

Moran's Collar - - - - 167 

Mac Carthy More - - - 196 

Mac Conn - - - - 200 

Mission of St. Palladius to Ireland 270 

Murtough, the Monarch - - 323 

McHale, Archbishop - - - 394 

Malachy I. .... 440 

Mahon, King of Munster - - 467 

Macroom 468 

Malachy II. - - . . 475 

Malmaorda, King of Leinster - 486 

Murtough, the Monarch - - 518 

Mountmorres, Hervey - - 562 

Names of Ireland - - - 11 

Nemedius 18 

Neaniul 33 

Nobility, the Irish - - - 81 

Navan, County of Meath - - 102 

Naval Architecture in Ireland - 105 

Naisi and Deirdre ... 143 

New Grange, County of Louth - 174 

Nial of the Nine Hostages - - 255 

Newry, Town of ... 430 

Newtownards .... 499 

O'Connor, Charles - - - 28 

O'Neil, Dynasty of - - - 33 

Ollamh Fodhla, the Great Monarch 82 

O'Rourke of BrefFeny . - 59 

O'Connor of OfFaly - . - 183 
Old Dublin - - . .188 
Olioll, King of Munster - .193 

Ossian 194 

Oscar 223 

O'Donnell Family . . - 254 
Objections of Dr. Ledwich respect- 
ing St. Patrick, Answered - 293 
Odder Village . - - - 360 

Orgial 466 

O'Connor, Roderick . - . 518 

O'Toole, Archbishop - - . 544 

O'Brien of Thomond . - . 563 

O'Rourke ..... 553 

Phaenius ..... 31 

Pharaoh, King of Egypt - - 33 
Parallel Account of the Milesian 

Colony - - - - 52 

Partition of Ireland ... 55 

Picts 61 

Powers Court, County of Wicklow 119 



Palace of Emania Destroyed - 236 
Pagan Ireland, Ciedibility of the 

History of - - - - 257 

Palladius, the Saint - - - 270 

Progress of Catholicity in Ireland 311 

Paschal Disputes - - - 366 

Princess Melcha ... 438 

Prince Murrough O'Brien - - 492 

Provinces of Ireland ... 516 

Population of Ireland ... 516 

Question Discussed, whether the 
Religion Established by St. 
Patrick, was the Roman Ca- 
tholic? - - - - 379 

Religion of the Pagan Irish - 75 

Rotheacta II., the Monarch - 96 

Ross Village, County of Wexford 100 

Roscommon .... 152 

Ratoath, County of Meath - - 169 

Rathkenny, County of Meath - 182 
Romans Defeated by the Irish 

Militia - - - - 200 

Ross-Carberry .... 399 

Raphoe See .... 408 

Roscrea ..... 470 

Rathkeal 505 

Round Towers .... 529 

Ross Castle - - - - 531 

Raymond Le Gross ... 540 

Slaigne 12 

Stone of Destiny . . - 25 

Skreen, County of Meath . - 61 

Skerries, County of Dublin - 66 

Scotland 78 

Swords, Irish - - - - 98 

Scotia, Major and Minor - - 249 

Slane, Townof - ,- - - 270 
State of Religion and Literature in 

Ireland in A. D. 428 - - 271 

St. Patrick's Arrival - - - 281 

Scots 325 

St. Columb-Kille - - .338 

Sitrick, the Dane ... 457 

Sea-fight at Dundalk . - 462 

Shillelagh 485 

Sons of Brian Boroihrae - . 495 

Stradbally, Queen's County . 500 

Strongbow .... 541 



Tuatha, De Nanaus ... 23 

Tailtean Games ... 27 
Tuatha De Denaus defeated by the 

Milesians .... 44 

Tralee, County of Kerry . . 47 

Tara 60 

Tighernmas, the Monarch - . 67 

Tallanstown, County of Louth - 107 

Tasuistry 132 

Tuathal, the Monarch - . 170 

Tribute of Leinster - . - 178 

Tuathal II. - . . - 328 



INDEX. 



Translation of St. Columb's Speech 

at Birr - - - - 338 

Tirdaglas, County of Tipperary - 377 

Tuam 393 

Turgesius, the Dane - - - 441 

Thomond 466 

Turlogh O'Connor - - - 508 

Thurles 563 

Tullaroan 568 



Ulster 

Usnach 

Usher, Archbishop 

Vine, the Irish 



141 
139 

298 



Victories of King Criorathan in 

Scotland - . . . 345 

Warner, Dr., the Historian - 27 

War Chariots of the Irish - - 79 

Wexford, Town of - - - 125 

Wolf-dogs, Irish - - 163 

War of Nial in Caledonia - - 248 

Wall of the Emperor Adrian - 268 

Waterford See - - - - 397 
Writers, Irish, of the Ninth and 

Tenth Centuries - - - 482 

Waterford City - - - - 502 

- 311 



80 Zosimus 



ERRATA, 



In page 71, for idle read idol, — in page 139, for Deidre read 
Deirdre, — in page 377, for Firdaglas read Tirdaglas. There are 
probably some more typographical errors that escaped my detection, 
for v/hich I have to claim the kind indulgence of the readers of this 
History. George Pepper. 





















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